Teachers Pet
by chocorose64
Summary: A new teacher comes to St Vlads, she's a twenty year old Dhampir with dodgy past. Her charge recently died and she's been moved to the school for a while where she falls for Eddie, and he falls for her. Can they make it work? Or will her past stop her?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, I had this idea a while back, I've altered it slightly, so here's the summary:**

**A new teacher comes to St Vlads, she's a twenty year old Dhampir and has had affairs with several royal Moroi's leaving her with a dodgy past, but, luckily no kids. Her charge recently died and has been moved to the school for the few months before Rose's year graduates. But there's a problem, she falls for Eddie and he falls for her. Can they make it work?**

**Ok, this is set in Shadow Kiss, but none of the crap happens, yes Mason died, but Rose isn't seeing ghosts or anything and her and Dimitri are secretly dating...I think that's all the background you need.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA**

**Jessica's POV (JPOV)**

I smiled as the year quietened down as Alberta spoke, just the way I remembered.

"We have a new member on our Guardian staff, Guardian Jessica Woodstock." Alberta began, "She will be guarding one of you when you graduate and will also be helping out with the novice training." She glanced back at me, an affectionate smile on her face that I returned, "She was a student here a couple of few years ago; some of you will remember her. She made her mark on the school. In fact, she left _several_ marks on the school."

I smiled, Stan outright laughed causing me to shiver, it had been a while...

While Alberta started to tell the students about some new scheme they'd started up Stan walked over to me.

"Jess." He said, nodding at me.

"Gaurdian Alto." I said, keeping my eyes on the students.

He chuckled in my ear making my legs go slightly weak, and causing a funny tingling sensation to spread across the lower half of my body, "You know we're past that shit."

"Mmm." I said quietly.

"Now, I think we should arrange a meeting, to catch up." He murmured, "So, what's your schedule?"

"I don't have it on me right now." I said smiling.

"Of course you don't. Well, you'll be in one of my classes at some point, we'll talk then. And make sure you bring it with you." He said walking away.

I smiled and shook my head slightly. Alberta finished up and we all filed out.

"Hey, Jess!" A familiar voice called as I walked to my room.

I turned to find Adrian Ivashkov standing near me.

"Ivashkov." I said, letting the smile creep across my face, "It's good to see you."

He grinned and walked over, "How are you?" He asked wrapping his arms round my waist.

"I'm good." I said softly, "You?"

"Never better." He murmured, "Are you...are all right? After what happened to Sophie?"

I nodded, "I'll be ok. What about you? She was your cousin."

"I'm fine." He sighed, "I've missed you."

I smiled, "I've missed you too."

"Ok, let's not get soppy." He said smiling, "I know you don't like that."

I laughed, "Come on. Let's go inside." I headed to the door of my room.

"Ooh, you're inviting me into your room." He said grinning.

I smacked him over the head, "You can stay outside if you want."

"No thank you." He walked inside with me. And as soon as we were there, I burst into tears in his arms.

**APOV**

"It's ok." I whispered wrapping my arms around her, "It's ok."

I could feel her shaking against my body; I'd never seen her like this. There was more to it than just Sophie dying, I could tell. I hadn't seen her in over a year now, anything could have happened to her. I _had _expected her to cry, but after we'd talked and I'd brought up the stuff with Sophie, like _really _gone into details. I hadn't expected her to end up like this, _before_ any of that.

She pulled back, "Adrian I'm sorry." She said softly.

I smiled, "Everything's fine honey. It's ok. You can cry as much as you want." I glanced around the room to find something more cheery to talk about. I smiled when I spotted something.

"You still playing then?" I gestured towards the guitar leant against the wall.

"A little." She shrugged, "I'm no good but I like it."

"Last thing I remember, you were pretty good." I said smiling.

"Uh huh." She smiled herself, "You have to say that, otherwise I'd hit you."

"Then I'd get you arrested for assault on a royal Moroi." I said it as a joke, the sort of friendly banter we'd used to do. But she froze up. She stepped back and stayed completely quiet. Silent even.

"Jess? What did I do?" I asked softly.

"Nothing." She sighed and sat down, "It's just...I've had a tough year Adrian, and that brought some memories back."

"You wanna talk about it?" I asked.

"No. I have to get to Stan's class." She scrunched her face up slightly, like she didn't want to go, but there was a slight gleam in her eyes as she said it. I knew better. She probably wanted to piss him off like she'd used to do.

"All right, I'll see you later." I left, to give her some time to clean herself up and stuff before getting to Stan's class. She was going to be late. But I didn't think she'd care.

**JPOV**

I washed my face and redid my makeup. Deciding I looked presentable I left and walked to Stan's classroom. I was late, of course.

"Nice of you to join us." Stan snapped from the front of the class as I walked inside.

"I decided it was time to grace you all with my presence." I said boredly as I headed to the back.

Stan chuckled.

"Oh come on!" One of the students complained, "You laugh at her, but when I do it you get all pissy at me!"

Stan turned to the student, before he could do something silly I intervened. She was pretty, she had long thick dark hair and nice brown eyes, and I could tell, even though she was sitting, that she was short, although, that didn't make her easy though. I'd been in plenty of fights with people bigger and stronger than me, and I'd won those. Apart from ones that I didn't put up a fight in...

"Oh believe me, I've had my fair share of lectures and detentions" Stan shot me a look, a look that made me shiver for the second time that day, "from Stanny over there." The class snickered, "But now, there's nothing he can do about it, so he _can _laugh, but when _you _ do it...he has to get pissed so as not to show his soft side to you. Not that he _ever _went soft on me though." I glared at him, "But, I suppose I should stop taking all the attention and let you teach your class." I said, turning back around and actually making it to the back this time.

I soon discovered that being a Guardian in a class was a hell of a lot less interesting than being a pupil in the class. Even when it was one of Stan's boring lectures. But then again, those lessons did seriously improve in my last year...

Eventually it was over, and it was lunch time for the students. But as we started to leave, Stan called my name. I smiled a little and turned to him.

"Yes Guardian Alto?" I said softly.

"Shut the door." He said sitting down.

I rolled my eyes and kicked it shut before walking over to him. I sat on the edge of the desk in front of his chair and he slowly, slightly hesitantly, placed a hand on my knee.

With a start I realised this was how it had started.

***flashback (there may be a few of these for a while...)***

"Oh for goodness sake," Stan muttered looking down at my papers, "What is wrong with you?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know how to do this shit? I don't mark papers!" I snapped.

"Come on." He picked them up and walked back over to his desk, "I'll show you."

Since he hadn't bothered with getting me a chair and I wasn't going to walk back round and get it I shoved a pencil case out of the way and sat on the desk. He had all the stuff he needed next to him so it wouldn't change anything. He sighed and sat down.

"So, all you have to..."

"What the fuck?" I'd kind of forgotten he was a teacher by that point, or maybe that was the problem, I picked up the last paper he'd marked, "A fucking D! After all the god damn hours I spent on that you go and give me a D?"

"Woodstock, give me the paper." He held out his hand.

"I'll give you the paper when you tell me what's fucking wrong with it!"

"Calm down." He placed a hand on my knee, "It's just one assignment, it doesn't mean you're failing." He said softly.

I eyed the hand on my leg, "Stan?" I murmured, putting the paper down, "What's with the physical contact?"

It was the first term back after the summer holidays. And still warm enough for me to be wearing shorts. Which meant, when he then spread his fingers out, touching more of my thigh, it kind of sent me a little crazy. I'd been with exactly two boys before. One was an ass, one who I was only dating at the time to piss my mother off, and he'd been pretty crap. And the other...well, we'd both been drunk, so he didn't know what he was doing and nor did I. But this, this was something different. I actually kind of liked having Stan's hand on me. Which felt really, really weird.

Stan didn't say anything; he just eyed his hand carefully as he began to slide his hand further up my thigh. Glad his eyes weren't on my face, I let my eyes roll back as a soft moan left my lips. He stood up and wrapped an arm around my lower back, pulling me into his body.

Holy fucking shit. I was about to have sex with a teacher. And it wasn't even a teacher I liked...how the hell did that happen?

***End of flashback and of chapter I'm afraid...***

**A/N: Don't worry guys, this actually isn't a Stan/Jess fanfic, I just kinda felt like I had to put that in there...**

**Please let me know what you think about this in a review! Whether you loved it, hated it, or wasn't really that interested by it, I still wanna hear your thoughts!**

**Chocorose x**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Ok, here's the next chapter, I wanted to wait until I got a few more reviews but this was playing on my mind...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA**

**Jessica's POV (JPOV)**

I smiled at the memory. He'd still given me that D, but that was probably so I didn't think that what we did in my 'detentions' wasn't what had affected my grade going up. But I had known sure as hell that it hadn't been me. There'd never been a deal, he'd just started helping me out behind the scenes.

Stan lightly rubbed my knee-cap, "How have you been?"

I shrugged, "All right."

"What happened?" He asked, knowing something was wrong.

"Stan...it's been two years. A _lot _has happened." I said, looking anywhere but him.

He stood up and placed his hands on both of my knees. I looked up at him. This was something I either loved or hated, I couldn't decide which, but the way he loomed over me was such a turn on I didn't quite care. He gently spread my legs apart and took a step forward. My breathing sped up, just from the thought, of having him, then and there, anyway I wanted. But I knew, from the annoying smirk on that arrogant face of his, that giving me what I wanted, at least right away, was the last thing on his mind.

"I'll see you later," I said opening the door to the classroom.

"Jess," He said softly.

"Yeah?" I turned back round.

"I'm sorry I never contacted you."

I smiled slightly, "I know. And it's all right."

He nodded and I left.

I grabbed some lunch. It was weird eating with the teachers. It felt strange to kind of...be at their level. A guy I didn't know came and sat next to me. He was tall; he had ridiculously long hair for a guy and wore a duster, like he was trying to be a cowboy. But, he was cute, more than cute.

"I'm Dimitri Belikov." He said holding out a hand.

"Jess Woodstock." I took his hand, "I'm assuming you came after I left?"

"No. A few months before. But, I never met you." Dimitri said slowly.

I nodded, "So...what do you do?"

"I'm the Dragomir Princess' Guardian." He said, "You?"

"Christian Ozera's."

"Does he know?"

"Not yet." I smiled a little, "Adrian was probably hoping I was his."

"I think he knows he doesn't get one yet. He has to actually _do _something first." Dimitri smiled, "Christian probably isn't expecting a Guardian either."

"No. But it was my choice. Tatiana said I could choose anyone."

"So you two have a good relationship then?"

"Yes." I smiled slightly, "I was guarding her...only niece; that was until she died."

Dimitri squeezed my arm.

"Do you miss her?"

"Yes. She was a good friend. And a good...person." I sighed, "You must have had a charge before." I looked up at him.

"I did. Ivan Zeklos." He said stiffly.

"Oh." I'd heard about that. And I knew that pretty much the same thing had happened to him as happened to me. But, Dimitri's name just hadn't rung a bell; I hadn't really studied the names particularly. At the time, when I'd first read it, I'd been too caught up in my own shit to worry about someone else's.

Stan walked in. He shot me a smile which I returned and then I turned back to Dimitri.

"You're mentoring...Hathaway aren't you?" I asked.

"Yes. I am." He smiled a little.

"She was the one in Stan's class who complained wasn't she?"

"Yes. That happens a lot." He smiled again.

"She sounds a little like me."

"I believe she is."

Alberta walked over to us.

"Jessica, could I talk to you please?" She asked.

I nodded. She was the only person I really let call me by my full name. Other people who did it...generally I didn't _let _them do it. Alberta walked me to her office. It was just the way I remembered it. Plain, boring and very well organized. Fine with me.

"Jessica," She sat down, "Guardian Belikov, who you were talking to, is mentoring a student. Rosemarie Hathaway. Rose has a bond with the Dragomir Princess. You know what that is?"

I nodded.

"So, Rose is in line to become the Princess' Guardian. But there's a problem with having the two of them together. Guardian Belikov and Rose Hathaway are involved."

"All right," I nodded; it wasn't all that strange to me, after everything that had happened with Stan, "What do you want me to do about it then?"

"I don't disapprove of the relationship. And I know you won't either. The Dragomir Princess is dating Christian Ozera. Your charge. And that relationship is currently looking pretty permanent. Rose has to stay with the Princess because of the bond. But Belikov doesn't. So I'll give you a choice. Do you swap with Belikov and work with Hathaway, or do you stay as Ozera's Guardian and have Belikov work with you?"

"I don't know. I hardly know either of them." I smiled.

"Take your time. Get to know both of them. But don't let them, or anyone else, know what I know about their relationship."

"Of course." I stood and left. I always came out of her office feeling slightly edgy, but I'd rarely been in her office, generally my discipline issues had been dealt with by Stan or Kirova.

"Jess." Stan said softly.

"Hey." I turned to him, "Did you follow me or something?"

He smiled, "What did she want?"

"Just to welcome me back." I shrugged.

Stan glanced round the corridor before wrapping his arms around me. I rested my head on his shoulder.

"We should talk." He murmured.

"Not now. You have to teach in five minutes." I said softly.

"Mmm." He took a small step back, "Jess. You have to talk to me."

"I know, and I will. Just not yet." I walked away. I wasn't guarding a class, so I went to my room and unpacked. When that was done, I went to find Stan. He was in his classroom. With a student. A student in detention. It was Rose. I smiled and walked over to him.

"Still preying on students I see." I murmured in his ear.

He chuckled. Rose had her feet on the desk and was tapping her fingers on the table.

"This is ridiculous. You're stopping me from training with D-Guardian Belikov." She caught herself before calling him Dimitri.

"I'm teaching you discipline." Stan said turning his attention back to his paperwork.

"Stan. You're teaching her to be bored. Let her go and train." I said sighing. Honestly I didn't care what he did with Rose, but I wanted to get it over with, which meant getting him to let Rose go.

Stan nodded and told Rose to leave, reluctantly I might add.

"So?" He looked up at me, "Care to talk?"

"Can we do it over dinner?" I asked, "I'm hungry."

He smiled, "Of course. What do you want?" He started to walk with me to my room.

"Food." I said smiling.

"All right, I'll see what I can do." He gave me a quick kiss before going to investigate. He came back, after about half an hour, with a Chinese. He hadn't gone very far to get it, so it wasn't the best stuff, but, it still tasted pretty good. And I'd rather that, than have him been gone for ages just for slightly better food.

"Well?" He asked once we'd started eating.

"I'll tell you what happened in the first year, but then I want a break." I warned.

He nodded.

"I was assigned to Sophie. And, because she was royal, and an Ivashkov, I ended up meeting a lot of the Ivashkov's. And then, at some point, I ended up meeting Adrian. We ended up dating. Adrian was...a great guy. He still is. But his father's not." I sighed and closed my eyes for a second, "At the start, all it was, was a few remarks, the kind of stuff Nathan does. But, after a few weeks, I realised it was more than that. He'd been speaking to people. High up royals, Guardians, making things up." I looked up at the ceiling, in an attempt to stop any tears coming out, "When I...confronted him. He came up with a deal. If I did what he wanted he'd keep his mouth shut. And by then my career was on the line. Either I broke up with Adrian, slept with Nathan, or let my career go down the drain. Breaking up with Adrian was out of the question, I wouldn't do that to him, not because of his father. And I couldn't ruin everything, if I lost being a Guardian, I'd have nothing. So I did what Nathan wanted. Turned out it was a regular thing. After just under a year of that, Adrian and I had a talk. Not about his father, about what was going on with us. He'd noticed something was off, and wasn't going to push it. It was a...an amiable break up. And I never saw Nathan again."

Stan stood up and walked over to me, he sat next to me.

"Is the next year worse?"

"Oh yeah." I sighed, "Things all went downhill after I left here. One of the reasons why I wanted to come back." I turned to him.

Stan leaned down and kissed me, "I don't really want to say this after what you've just told me. And considering you still have the next year to go. But after all this, we'll have to talk about what _we're _going to do." He murmured.

"I know." I sighed again.

"What are you singing?" He asked suddenly.

"Uh...Stan," I frowned, "I'm not singing anything."

"No, for the whole band thing we all have to do." He said smiling.

"What band thing?"

"You weren't listening to Alberta earlier were you?"

"No, you were distracting me."

"All students and teachers are split, boys vs girls. The girls have to form a four or five piece girl group and the boys have to do the same. There has to be one teacher in each group, at least. And everyone has to audition. It's supposed to bring the students and teachers closer to each other." Stan frowned at the thought of it, he wasn't best pleased with the idea.

"Bet that was Kirova's idea." I muttered.

He laughed, "It was."

"I have no idea, I'll think about it."

At some point, Stan had wrapped an arm around me. I leant into his chest and sighed, it must have been the third, _fourth_? time I'd done that. And I still had the next year to get through. It was going to be a long night.

**A/N: That was a killer! Took me AGES...**

**Please review guys! I'd like to get more than two this time...but I will update this anyway...**

**Chocorose x**


	3. AN: SORRY GUYS!

**A/N:**

**Ok guys, I'm afraid it might be a while before my next update, on ALL my fanfics. Last week I couldn't update because I had a show on at school that I was involved in and then I went to a Christening. This week, I may not be able to update as I have checkups at the doctors, I'm looking after a puppy for my friend, and haven't slept for basically the whole of last week. And then, next week I'm going on holiday to Dorset, and the week after I'm on holiday in London. So, it could be a long time. There's a chance I'll get an update this week on some of my fanfics, but I'm not sure. **

**Sorry about this! But there's nothing much I can do! **

**Chocorose x**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: So…I'm sorry for the long wait. But as you know I was on holiday, and then, when I got back, I started working on my own original stuff and had to catch up on fanfic's, twitter etc…**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA**

**Jessica's POV (JPOV)**

After we'd finished dinner and had sex – yes that's exactly what happened and yes that's exactly how I thought of it; Stan wanted answers. Answers that I willingly gave.

"Sophie wanted to move to England, well she suggested it and I agreed, needing to get away from Adrian and Nathan. Sophie was so…so kind it was almost ridiculous, and that was something I was beginning to believe was a rarity for royal Moroi, and now I actually believe that. She wanted to make sure I wasn't…alone. So she introduced me to her friend. Ian Badica. I don't know why he was in England, but I believe he was the main…pull for Sophie. She thought he'd be perfect for me. Which he was...for a while. Until he started using his status against me. Just like Nathan. This time though...he never had to go through with the threats, I'd learnt my lesson the first time. But it was more than sex this time. I could take him any day but...not when he's a Moroi. I couldn't touch him, not even in self-defence. Who would the courts believe? A lord or a Dhampir? That's just how it works. And how it'll always be. But it does mean men like him can get away with it. And before you say anything, I don't blame myself, I'm past that. I _know _where the real blame belongs."

Stan took one of my hands and placed it in both of his.

"One day it'll change. We'll get a queen that cares." He murmured, "It's just a case of holding on.."

"Stan...I thought you were pro the whole they come first bullshit."

He shook his head, "Not when it degrades or hurts my race and people I care about."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"Well I doubt it worked. It wasn't that cheery was it?"

"No. But it's a damn sight better than the outlook I have."

"That's true." Stan smiled a little.

"So I suppose now we need to talk about us then?" I suggested.

"Probably." He leant back in the bed, "If you really want to do that now?"

"No. But I need to get this over with. And we both know what's coming." I shot him a look.

"Yeah." He ran a hand over his face, "All right, here's the deal. I _do _care about you. But...I don't think it's really the kind of love this entails."

"Wow...you put that a lot nicer than I could have." I smiled.

Stan laughed, "That's why _I_ said it."

"True..." I sighed.

"Jess..." He said softly, "Do you want one more night? And then in the morning we go our separate ways?"

"Yeah."

He didn't exactly need any more encouragement than that. He kissed me.

I woke up alone. Not that that was a surprise. He hated goodbyes as much as me. And it wasn't really a goodbye…this was going to be weird.

I got a shower and then got some breakfast. But I wasn't really with it. I wasn't sure if I was…upset or just really pissed off. When it came to me, they were quite similar.

Someone tapped me on my shoulder. I turned to them. It was Alberta.

"Can I have a word?" She asked.

"Sure." I followed her to her office.

"Have you decided what you want to do yet?" She asked sitting down.

"Yes. I think it would be best if I worked with Belikov." I said.

"Is that because of Rose or because you want Christian to be guaranteed two Guardians?" She asked, a smile playing on her lips.

"Both." I smiled myself.

"In that case, I need you to mentor Edison Castile. He'll be taking Belikov's place. _You _need to mentor him because he needs to learn how to work with someone like Rose, and he needs mentoring because he'll be Guarding the Dragomir Princess." Alberta said slowly.

"All right. How? Belikov and Rose take up the gym most of the time."

"I'm cancelling their training sessions for a few months. He can do theory with her instead in the library or in one of their rooms, I don't care." Sbe sighed, "Go and talk to Eddie, he's in Stan's class right now."

"Ok." I left. I wasn't exactly…pleased to be going to Stan's class after last night. But, I had to.

I knocked on the door and Stan called me n.

"I need to borrow Edison Castle." I said, not quite meeting Stan's eyes.

Stan nodded at Eddie and Eddie walked out.

"You know how Belikov mentors Rose?" I asked as he shut the door.

"Yes."

"I have to mentor you. We'll be taking up their training times. Alberta's talking to Dimitri about that now."

"Why?" He frowned.

"I can't tell you _exactly _why. But it's…to make you…the best."

That seemed to confuse him more, which wasn't exactly surprising as I'd managed to confuse myself.

"Look, I just have to ok?" I sighed.

"Yeah." He smiled a little.

"We'll start tomorrow. I'm not up to anything today. Tomorrow morning, an hour before school." I walked away.

Luckily, that day, I wasn't guarding any of Stan's classes, I was mostly guarding Moroi. I wasn't quite sure why I wanted to avoid him. It wasn't like anything had gone wrong it was just…it sort of hurt, to know and remember what had happened.

**A/N: I know it's a crappy ending…but it was the best I could seem to do with the chapter…the next one will be better!**

**Please review!**

**Chocorose x**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: I have been kinda desperate to write this one for some reason...**

**THE BEGINNING IS A FLASHBACK!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA**

**JPOV**

He scanned the class like a predator. That was the only thing he seemed to do these days. His eyes fell on me.

"Woodstock." He snapped, "Would you care to repeat the theory to the rest of the class?"

"No." I leant back in my chair.

"Do I have to ask someone else?" He smirked.

"Nah, none of them were paying attention either."

The class laughed, Stan's expression darkened.

"Wood..."

"Look, ask someone else, and give _them _the detention you're longing to give someone and leave me alone. I'm honestly tired of you picking on me." I said boredly.

Stan's face, if possible, got redder.

"Woodstock!"

"Yes Stan?" I asked sweetly.

He walked over, well, stormed.

"Don't test my patience Woodstock." He growled, leaning on the desk, "You'll get more than you bargained for."

I laughed, "Is that a threat Stan? I could actually report you for that."

He drew breath to speak, well, shout.

"All right all right." I stood up, "I'm leaving. And I'll be back for an after school detention."

I threw him a risky wink and walked out of the classroom.

So after school, I arrived, wondering why he'd wanted me in a detention so badly that night.

He turned to me, "Jess."

"Hey." I slung my back onto the floor.

"We're not doing this here." He said standing up.

I raised my eyebrows, "Ok."

I picked the bag back up and followed him, wherever we were going. His room. I backed up when he opened the door.

"Stan I...I can't..."

He reached out and took my hand, pulling me inside.

"Jess," He pressed me up against the door.

"Mmm?" I shook my hair out of my eyes.

"Jess." He whispered nuzzling my cheek, "I...I..."

"You?" I prompted, gently pushing him back a little.

"I need to talk to you." He said softly.

"Yes, I'd gathered that." I smirked a little.

He sighed, "Look just...sit down." He pointed to one of the cushions he'd laid out on the floor.

I did.

"Stan, what's going on? Dinner? Candles? Cushions? Stan..."

"I know." He sat down.

I eyed him carefully, "Stan, would you please tell me what's going on before I realise I'm so nervous that I end up throwing up whatever the hell this dinner is."

Stan reached out and brushed my hair away from my face.

"Jess, honey, listen to me. Nothing's wrong. I promise you that." He murmured leaning in closer.

"Then...what is this?"

"I think, that we should..."

"Woodstock!" Someone shouted.

I snapped out of my daydream, "Yeah?"

It was Stan, what did he want?

"Since Rose finds my teaching so dull, how would you like to have a go?"

"Uh...what? You can't punish me for what your student's doing." I frowned a little.

"No." Stan sighed, exasperated, "I _meant _it. Do you actually want to have a go?"

"Oh." I suddenly understood what he was talking about, a few people snickered, but I was kind of doing the same.

"Well?" He prompted.

"Ok." I shrugged and walked over, "But uh...what were you teaching?"

He handed me his plan for the lesson. I scanned it and realised why they were all so bored.

"Jeez." I gave it back to him, "There must be something more interesting than that."

He smiled a little, "You pick what you teach them then."

"Ok..." I thought about it for a couple of seconds and then decided, the only thing I could think of to do, was to tell them how I'd put into practice some of the crap Stan had taught us. Which meant telling some slightly painful stories as they made me think of Sophie, but, I could do it.

Afterwards, since we had time left, Stan decided to do a question and answer session. It went fine for the first couple of minutes.

But then Rose had to ask a question.

Stan sucked in a breath as she started to speak.

"But if you did all this so well. How come you're here and Sophie's dead?" She asked.

The class stiffened and I sighed.

"Hathaway!" Stan barked.

"Leave it." I murmured placing a hand on his arm, "That won't teach her."

"Rose, I can see that you look up to Guardian Belikov." I gestured to where he stood, "In more ways than one." Her expression darkened, "But you know fine well his charge died. Don't you?"

"Yes. But..."

"That wasn't on his watch?" I said raising my eyebrows.

She nodded.

"Sophie's death, wasn't on my watch either."

"But you were there when she died." She interrupted.

"Yes. I was. Tatiana wanted me back, for a few days, to have a...chat about my future. Two minutes after I'd finished my shift, swapped with the other Guardian and walked out the door, my phone rang. They were under attack. By the time I'd got there, I was too late. She was dying. So yes, I was there when she died. Yes, I watched it happen. But I wasn't there when those wounds were inflicted Rose. There was nothing I could have done. It wasn't on my watch."

Rose looked down, obviously slightly embarrassed.

"In fact, Rose I think we should have a chat. Come with me." I started to leave the classroom. Rose followed. Reluctantly.

"Look, Rose. You're going to have to learn when to keep your mouth shut." I said once the door was shut, "Dimitri, Vasilisa and Adrian can't always protect you. Not from the politics. I've learnt that the hard way. But you need to learn it _before _you leave school. Otherwise it's dangerous."

"I still have a few months." She snapped.

I laughed, "Rose, I'm not just here because of who I'm guarding next year. Tatiana wants a report. As to whether I think you'll make a good Guardian for Vasilisa. Don't screw up." I walked away.

**Eddie's Point of View (EPOV)**

No one was surprised with what Rose had said. But I was worried about her. And Guardian Woodstock. She'd been angry, so Rose was in for it, but she was upset too. Stan looked anxious, like he thought something was going on. But after a couple of minutes Rose walked in, pissed off, but absolutely fine.

It turned out Stan was more worried about Guardian Woodstock than Rose.

"Castile." He said once Rose had sat down, "Check on Guardian Woodstock. She'll be in her room."

I nodded and left, bringing my stuff with me.

I knocked on the door; she'd given me her room number the other day, when she'd told me she had to mentor me. But we still hadn't done anything yet. She'd seemed stressed; I'd told her to put it off. But I didn't know what was going on. It didn't seem anyone did.

She opened it, not looking that impressed. But her expression softened a little when she saw it was me.

"Honestly I was expecting someone I didn't want to see." She explained once she'd let me in.

I smiled a little, "Like who?"

"Stan. Adrian...Alberta."

"Why Alberta?" I frowned a little.

"More bad news. Mind you, she could be telling me it's _not _happening I suppose." She sat down.

"Bad news?"

She sighed, "I'm not going into it. Did Stan send you?"

I smiled slightly, "Yes."

"Unbelievable." She muttered; but she said it with a smile.

"Guard..."

"Eddie." She interrupted, dragging out my name, "I don't call you Castile or Edison do I? So call me Jess. That takes too long."

I nodded, "Jess, something's obviously wrong. And I think I should know what it is. Considering it's affecting my training."

She tilted her head back and sighed, "You're making it affect your training Eddie. If you don't want it to. Change it. Let me train you."

"I can't...I can't let you when you're like this." I said softly, walking over to her.

She laughed, "You don't know me. This could be perfectly normal for all you know." She snapped.

I smiled a little and resisted the sudden, unexpected urge to brush he hair away from her face, "Jess...it's obviously not normal, so tell me what's wrong."

"I'd rather you left now." She said standing up, "I can't tell you. And that's it."

I sighed and ran a hand over my head, "Jess..."

"Look, I just..." She closed her eyes for a second, "I...is it that hard for you to believe it might be personal?"

"No." I opened the door.

"Eddie." She reached out and caught my arm, "I..." She sighed, as if she was giving up.

And then she kissed me.

**A/N: I skipped a couple of days if anyone was wondering, and I know it'll seem like it's moving fast but hey...**

**Please review!**

**Chocorose x**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me!**

**Haha, don't you guys love me? Writing this on my birthday...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA**

**JPOV**

"I am so sorry." I said stepping back, "I shouldn't have done that."

Eddie sighed and ran a hand over his hair, "I know."

"Ok." I started pacing, "What do you want to do about this?"

Eddie sighed again, "I don't know."

"I think you should leave. And we should think about this. But, we'll start your training this afternoon. I just want you to do what you'd normally do. So I can see roughly what you're like." I said slowly.

"All right." He nodded, "I'll see you later." He left.

The remainder of the day was...tough to say the least.

I was struggling. I felt like I should have spoken to Eddie more, made it clear how I felt...but how did I feel? I had no idea!

I sighed and changed clothes before heading down to the gym. Eddie was already there, and it looked like he'd been there for a while, taking his anger out on the punching bag. I debated going in, but I figured I'd be really weird and watch him through the window on the door. I soon discovered that wasn't the best idea, watching him like that, with sweat practically dripping off him wasn't that great for me. So I walked inside.

Eddie stopped and turned to me.

"All right, do…four laps round the field." I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I really needed to talk to Dimitri to find out what he did in their training sessions. It was a mystery to me, how he could have anything to do. I couldn't think of _anything._

Eddie came back after a couple of minutes. Now dripping with even _more _sweat.

I smiled a little, "So, what do you want to do?" I asked.

He chuckled, "You have no idea what to do do you?"

"No." I admitted, "To be honest this wasn't something I volunteered for."

He raised an eyebrow, "No?"

"No. Alberta decided you needed the training and that I was the best bet."

"Why did I need the training?" He asked frowning.

"It's...complicated." I sighed, "I actually can't tell you."

"All right. What do you want me to do now?" He asked.

"Let's try sparring." I said standing up and stretching, "It's a good place to start."

He was very good. But, I knew it wasn't good enough. He landed a few blows. _Several _blows. But, he wasn't quite there yet. There were a few things we'd have to work on.

"Ok." I stepped back and helped him off the floor, "You're good. But, in the real world, you'd probably get your ass kicked. I think..."

"Jess?" Alberta said walking in.

"Yes." I turned to her.

"He wants to see you." She said softly, avoiding looking at Eddie.

"Well, I don't want to see him." I said, gritting my teeth together.

"Jess I know but..."

"I'm busy." I interrupted, "Doing my job. So let me do that first. _Then _I _might _go and see him."

She nodded and left.

I turned back to Eddie, "Ok so, as I was saying...

**APOV**

"I'm sorry what?" I asked, I had no idea what Stan was talking about.

He sighed, "I need you to keep an eye on Jess. Something's wrong."

"Yeah, I know. Ever since Alberta spoke to her this morning." I frowned.

"She spoke to Alberta?"

"Yeah, she came out...pissed. Something happened."

"I should talk to her." Stan started to leave.

"No. I should do it. I know what happened between you two. If something's wrong, she doesn't need that." I said.

Stan sighed but nodded. I went to find her.

**RPOV**

"What happened?" Dimitri demanded.

"When?" I sighed.

"When Guardian Woodstock took you out." He sat down.

"Nothing."

"Rose." He frowned, "I know something happened."

"She just said that she had to report back to Tatiana about me. Nothing I can't handle."

"Rose..." He sighed, "You're going to have to be more careful."

"I know I know." I said boredly, "You should all calm down. I can deal with this."

Dimitri laughed, "Rose, Rose." He shook his head and walked over.

"That's the fourth time you've said my name in a row." I muttered.

He chuckled, "I might make it more." He reached out and tilted my face up to his.

"Really?" I asked smiling a little.

"Definitely." He kissed me.

**A/N: Not as long as I'd liked it to be, but it **_**was **_**a filler.**

**Didn't manage to finish this on my birthday...haha!**

**Please review!**

**Chocorose x**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Apologies for taking OVER a MONTH to update this!**

**It has been that long right?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA**

**JPOV**

I walked into the room without knocking. It wasn't what I should be doing, but I did it. He turned, probably prepared to shout at me for walking in without knocking, but then he realised it was me.

"Jessica." He said; a small smile on his face.

"Ian." I said stiffly.

He laughed, "Now now Jessica, don't be silly."

This time I laughed, "Ian, you know I don't want to see you."

"Then why did you come?" He walked over, "You didn't have to; you know that."

"Alberta..."

"Said I wanted to see you." He reached out and shut the door, leaving his hand by my shoulder, "Not that you _had _to come."

"You'd make life pretty difficult if I didn't."

He leaned in, so his lips were next to my ear, "I'll make life pretty difficult no matter what you do. Because now, what matters is what you've _done._"

I shuddered as he pressed his lips to my neck. He wrapped an arm round my lower back, pulling me into his body. I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself. But all that meant was that the only stimulus I had was him. Mind you, it did mean I could relax into it and just let him do what he wanted without having to register that it was him.

"All right." He murmured, lifting his head and stepping back, "You should go."

It was true. And I did. I left, practically running out. I ended up practically walking into Adrian.

"Woah," He placed his hands on my shoulders to keep me still, "You all right Jess?"

"I'm fine." I muttered starting to walk away.

"Jess." He caught my arm, not remotely convinced, "Something's wrong. Talk to me."

I pulled my arm out of his hold, "It's got nothing to do with you."

"Stan's worried, at least give me _something _to tell him." He called after me.

I sighed, "Tell him it's nothing to worry about, it'll be over soon."

He probably would have protested some more if I hadn't managed to walk away.

* * *

><p>The next person, to ask how I was, was Eddie. I'd been five hundred times less on point during practice than I had been before. And I'd been bad then. He stopped, almost in mid stride, and just waited. He knew, if he pressed for an answer, I probably wouldn't say anything. But silence did generally get me to talk. I hated it.<p>

"All right." I sighed, "Someone has to know."

He frowned a little, "You don't have..."

"No. I do." I stood up, "You deserve that much...One of the judges, for that ridiculous band competition, is someone I know. My ex, Ian Badica." I paused, not sure what else to say, "He...he's the kind of man who if I could unknow him, I would."

"Ah." He walked over, "What did he do?"

"You don't want to know." I said softly.

"I'm asking; that implies I want to know."

"I don't want to talk about it." I snapped beginning to pace the floor.

"Jess." He loudly let out his breath, "Jess, I think you need to."

I turned to him, "Eddie I...I..." I had no idea what to say, or how to say it.

He, very hesitantly, wrapped his arms around me. He'd half started to but then paused, worried that he shouldn't. But I'd sort of stepped into it, needing him to comfort me. I was pretty sure I needed _him _to comfort me as well, not Adrian, not Stan; Eddie.

After a couple of seconds Eddie started to relax, letting himself do what he wanted. He held me to his chest, gently running a hand over my hair. Just that, slow, repetitive motion calmed me down. Eventually, I took a step back.

"I'm sorry." I said, lightly biting my lip.

He smiled a little, "It's all right."

"We should get on with your training." I said quickly, shaking my head a little.

* * *

><p>Eddie knocked on my door. I'd told him to stop by after dinner, if he didn't mind breaking the rules and I could always cover for him. I just wanted to talk to him. Sort of...talk out what was going on. I couldn't stand the uncertainty.<p>

I opened the door and let him in. I sighed; he was too handsome for his own good.

He sat on the edge of the bed, seeming a little self-conscious, not that that was surprising. I sat next to him and swung my legs onto the bed, curling up.

"I know it's complicated. And it's risky. I'm your teacher, you're underage and...two Dhampirs is frowned upon. I know that." I began, trying not to sigh again, "But Eddie, I have let what people think, what the Moroi world thinks, rule my life. Make decisions for me. And it's...I know I'm a bit of an exception but I really can't do it anymore. I like you, a lot. And...if it was up to me, we'd...be together in secret, at least until you've built your reputation and our comfortable enough to tell people. But, I would honestly understand if you don't want to do this." I lightly squeezed his hand.

Eddie looked down, seeming to think.

"Jess, you're...you're amazing. You're beautiful, and...I do like you. Really I do but...I don't know if I can. I know I shouldn't, but, I want to." He said slowly.

I smiled a little, "Eddie," I reached out and tilted his face back up to mine, "I know you can't love me yet. And I know I wouldn't know if I loved you. But I won't, I won't think anything of it, if you say no."

That wasn't me. I never got like that; I would never be so understanding or so..._soft_. But, it turned out, that Eddie had brought that out of me.

"We should try." He said eventually.

I nodded, "All right, you should go back to your dorm."

He left.

**A/N: Please review guys! **

**Chocorose x**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: I completely forgot to say this last time, but thank you for all the birthday wishes! Not many reviews for the last chapter, but I loved what was said!**

**Thank you to Do'B for taking the time to write such a long review, I think I've probably said this on AIB as well, but thank you very much! It's those reviews that mean the most cos it proves you've read it...I'm joking! I'm hoping Stan won't be a problem, but he MAY make some little comments/appearances here and there, if it all goes to plan.**

**Also, very off topic, but if anyone has any ideas with how to deal with stress, it would be greatly appreciated!**

**Anyway, here you go!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA**

**JPOV**

I paced the floor, thinking. I'd been attempting to tick things off of my list of things to think about:

When/what to tell Eddie about my past?

Do I need to be asking Dimitri for some advice?

Ian – he was just an issue

Should I be telling Adrian everything as well?

What to tell Tatiana, she'd asked for a report, on _everything_

Stan wants more answers, but what to tell him?

What am I going to sing?

The latter was the least important, but also, arguably, the least stressful. So after hours of debating over the first six problems, I attempted to solve the last one. There were many things I could sing, many songs I loved. But I wasn't sure exactly what to do. It wasn't something that interested me. Or any of the teachers. Or, it seemed, many of the students. But we all had to 'audition'. But surprisingly, Kirova didn't. Strange huh?

I sighed, I couldn't think straight. The other problems were too pressing for me to even come up with an artist I liked. I opened the window, in the hope that some fresh air would do the trick. Maybe help to clear my head.

A knock on the door saved me from my thoughts. I opened it to find Eddie.

"Hey," I said softly, frowning slightly, "What is it?"

He shrugged, "I was wondering why you cancelled practice?"

I nodded, "Come in."

I shut the door before turning to him.

"I just...wasn't up for it." I admitted.

"Why?" he pressed.

I sighed, "It's...a little complicated. Well, no, not complicated just...private."

He waited.

I managed to keep quiet for a few minutes. But the way he was looking at me was persuasive. Very persuasive. It didn't even look like he was trying, all he was doing, was looking at me. And I melted.

So I did something that was definitely not the sort of thing a teacher should be doing. I took my shirt off to show him the bruises. They were spread up and down my arm, dark, purple spots everywhere, each bruise was about the length of a finger, which made sense considering that was what did it.

"Jess," he murmured taking my arm and examining it, "What happened?"

I looked down, "Eddie..."

"I know you don't want to talk about it. But this really starting to ge-"

My phone rang, noisily. I sighed and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Jessica." It was Tatiana, "How's everything?"

"Fine." I said slowly, "I mean, not great but, better than expected."

"Have you written the report?"

"Not yet. I haven't had the chance." I said sighing.

"All right, just send it as soon as it's done." She hung up.

I turned back to Eddie who seemed to have softened.

"You don't have to explain if you can't. But it would help."

I pulled my shirt back on and thought for a few minutes.

"It's...not a long story, but it _is _complicated. And I can't do this without thinking first. I need a bit of time."

He nodded, "I'll wait. As long as you need." He started to leave.

"Eddie." I reached out and caught his arm, "You don't have to leave."

He laughed, "It's all right, I have some practising to do." He glanced at the guitar in the corner, an explanation.

"I see. One of the stupidest ideas that woman's had. And she's had many." I muttered, "Stupid ones."

He laughed again, "We all know that."

* * *

><p><strong>(AN: This is a few days later)**

A hand grabbed my arm. I was spun round the corner and slammed into a wall. When the head-rush disappeared, I managed to look up. It was Stan. I felt myself calm down, I hadn't realised, but I'd been terrified that it had been Ian. It wasn't something he'd do. He wouldn't risk it. But then, I hadn't thought Stan would do something as stupid as that either. It was the sort of thing, that I couldn't picture anyone I knew doing. And yet here Stan was, doing something completely ridiculous.

"Stan...what's going on?" I asked softly, attempting, and probably failing to calm him.

He placed his hands on the sleeves of my shirt and pushed them back, "Care to explain?"

I pushed him back, "If I wanted to talk to you about it. I would have done." I snapped. That wasn't like me, but, I wasn't myself. Anyone could tell that.

"Jess," he growled, "I deserve to know."

"No you don't!" I shouted, before managing to lower my voice, "You'd _deserve" _I spat the word, "To know if you'd once tried to find me, if you'd once given me a call. Or if you'd even _inquired _about me. But you didn't. And you knew that I could be anywhere, doing anything, you knew it could be impossible for me to contact you. Which it was. And yet, you were too damn scared to make the first move! If you had, _this _may not have happened. If you had, I very well may have got up the courage to come home. But no, you insisted on staying quiet. So tell me, how on earth could you _deserve _to know?"

"Jess," He whispered, "I didn't mean it like that. You know that. What's going on?"

"Someone got wind of what was going on between me and Eddie." By this point I didn't care if he knew, he of all people had to understand, "And they informed Tatiana. This morning, I got a call. Break it off, or leave."

He took my hand, "Tell her you've broken it off. But don't do anything yet. You need to think it through for a while first."

"I thought of that. But she could find out I lied." I sighed.

"She could. But Jess, you need him right now." He met my eyes, as hard as I tried to look away he still found my eyes, "And I am _not _going to let her touch you _or _him."

I smiled slightly, "You might not _let _her, but there's no way you'll _stop _her."

"Not alone no. But Jessica, you have more people here to back you up than you realise." He said walking away.

I frowned, now I wasn't the best judge of character. I could tell when someone wasn't what they seemed to be, or if they weren't one of the 'good guys' but I had issues working out if they were good _enough _to be trusted. But I couldn't think of anyone I'd overlooked. The only people, who I knew would stand by me, were Stan and Adrian. I wasn't even sure of Eddie yet.

I think most people called it trust issues. I called it being sensible. But was I too cautious? Was it all just...defences?

I shook my head slightly, now wasn't the time to be considering whether I was mentally unstable or not. It was the time to make a phone call and make it through the rest of the day.

**A/N: There you go; good/bad/interesting/pointless?**

**Haha, please review guys!**

**Chocorose x**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thank you to my three reviewers! Lovely reviews! Means a lot!**

**Thank you to my beta reader Mal15**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA!**

JPOV

Things were getting difficult. Tatiana had surprisingly decided to back off. She seemed to have decided she trusted me. But the main problem was Ian and his Guardian. They'd always been the main problem. And things were getting more intense. Things with Eddie were getting a lot more serious. Ian just appeared sporadically and his Guardian appeared to be tailing me as much as possible. I was sure that was under Ian's orders. From what I could remember, his Guardian would do anything he asked. I could never figure out why though.

It wasn't all bad. I'd even come up with some sort of routine for Eddie's training sessions, but even the good things appeared to have some sort of edge. Eddie and I getting closer meant he wanted answers. Tatiana backing off meant I had less protection.

I planned on talking to Dimitri; I was going to do it that day, to see how he dealt with Rose at the start. How they did it without getting caught and all that. But I also needed to be completely open with someone who wasn't at all involved emotionally with it. Unlike Stan and Adrian, or even Rose who had an interest in keeping Eddie safe. I mean, Dimitri did too, considering it was his job, but he was a lot less likely to be biased.

I knocked on Alberta's office. This was something else I'd been planning to do. She knew that Ian and I had been together. Most people did. But, I needed her help managing him and his Guardian, and I felt to ask anything of her, she needed to know the truth. Alberta was always busy, well that was my excuse, so I'd decided to write it up instead of tell her it. Then she could do it whenever she had the time. Of course there were things I'd glossed over, naturally, I hadn't gone into details of anything, but I'd told her straight out what he'd done and what I needed from her. I needed his Guardian to be placed on a constant duty to keep him from me. I could deal with Ian's games, but his Guardian's tailing was worrying. I didn't particularly want him and Ian knowing every single thing I was doing.

She called me in.

"I just wanted to give you this." I placed the folded piece of paper on the desk.

"What is it?" She asked reaching out to take it.

"You'll find out when you read it." I shrugged and started to leave.

"Jessica," She said sharply, I turned, "Has something happened?"

"Not yet."

She nodded and I left.

I knew she wouldn't be very impressed with the lack of information I'd given her, but there wasn't much else I could do. A lot of it was unknown to me, and the parts I'd purposely withheld, I didn't want to relieve.

A high pitched, irritating shouting was coming from around the corner. I took a deep breath, to prevent me from strangling the girl, before walking around and seeing who it was.

She looked about twelve and perfect. She actually looked a little bit like a doll. And she was shrieking at Eddie.

"All right all right. Calm down." I said walking over, "What's going on?"

"He's refusing to go to the dance with me even though I know for a fact he doesn't have a date." The girl snapped.

I had to hold back a laugh, "That's causing you to be shrieking down the corridor?"

"Apparently," Eddie said, he seemed quite...embarrassed.

"What's your name?" I asked the Moroi.

"Mia," she said, shaking her ringlets out of her face.

This time, I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes, "Surname?"

"Rinaldi."

She wasn't even royal. I didn't see where this behaviour was coming from.

"It's just a boy." I said evenly, "Plenty of other fish in the sea. Calm down. And if, you feel the need to yell at someone for refusing you, do it somewhere where the entire school doesn't have to hear your drama. It's disruptive. And," Here I glanced at my watch, although I knew perfectly well what the time was, "You're making Eddie late for practice."

She glared up at me and I met her gaze.

"Do you have a problem with something I've said?" I demanded.

"No." She shook her head.

"Good." I walked away.

Eddie followed, a few feet behind, almost dragging his feet as he walked.

"You all right?" I asked once we were in the gym.

He nodded.

"Are you sure?" I smiled slightly.

"I'm sure."

"Good. But, Eddie, you could have said yes. You are supposed to have a date for the Christmas dance." I said slowly.

He shrugged, "I didn't want to go with her. And I'm not the only one."

"Who else doesn't have a date?" I asked frowning a little.

"Rose."

"Ah..." I could talk to Dimitri about that as well, "I see."

"Look, a dance isn't important." He said, sounding more like he was convincing himself other than me, "I don't need a date for it. I don't even need to go."

"Eddie, listen to me," I walked over to him "It's your last couple of years here. The last few times you'll have even the slightest bit of freedom. Take it. Go to the dance, with, or without Mia. Live a little. I'm certainly not going to mind. You're young, take a night off."

He laughed, probably at me, "Jess, it's all right. A night with Mia, watching her get very drunk, is not what I need."

"All right, if you're sure." I smiled a little and we started practice.

* * *

><p>I knocked on Dimitri's door. I knew it was late, and he probably wouldn't be very impressed, but between Eddie's practice and a 'meeting' with Ian, I'd been very busy.<p>

"Jess," He sounded a little surprised, "What can I do for you?"

"I need your help."

"What with?" He asked letting me in.

"I'll do the easy bit first." I muttered as he shut the door, "Eddie doesn't want to have a date for the dance, and nor does Rose by the looks of it. But the thing is, I don't really want them both to spend it by themselves, so, I just thought it might be a good idea for the two of them to go together. Not dating because we both know that's not what either of them want but...just together."

He nodded, "I'll talk to her."

"And then there's the second thing. You and Rose; are close. And I..." I sighed; I couldn't quite work out how to phrase it.

Dimitri stayed quiet, waiting for me to get out exactly what I wanted to say.

"You love Rose, I can see that. And I feel the same way about Eddie and I was wondering how you went about...doing all of it."

**A/N: So I know it's not the longest chapter but I wanted to end it there...**

**Please review!**

**Chocorose x**


	10. AN: An apology

**A/N: Hey guys, this is going on all of my fanfics, so it's not very specific.**

**Basically, I wanted to apologise for not updating at all recently. But, with Christmas, new Year, English exams, German mocks, things got a little crazy. Also, I have a very busy schedule atm, things are going through the roof, for no reason. I have no exams, nothing's happened...like a family member passing, or anything like that. But I have got a job now, and work Tuesdays and Fridays. Still have school. I have Piano on a Thursday and these wipe out a lot of time. Plus, the homework load's increased.**

**What I'm saying, is updates may be a little rare until July-ish. I'm not saying they won't get done, or that it'll be INCREDIBELY long gaps between them, just that they won't be as frequent as they used to be. Also, on an emotional level I'm having a few issues getting myself to write, I've drafted the next chapter of Assassinating in Blood and began Teacher's Pet. Forever's a Curse I'm debating how to do the next chapter at the moment. **

**Hopefully, over the next few days, perhaps Saturday/Sunday I'll have Assassinating in Blood up. Then, Thursday possibly Teacher's pet. But we'll see what happens.**

**Please don't give up on me! Haha, I'll still be updating, promise!**

**Chocorose x**


	11. Another apology

**A/N: GOSH...well, I'm not sure where to begin.**

**Since my last A/N a few**** things have happened. **

**1: I gained a neck injury which meant I couldn't type**

**2: I went to Germany on a school trip**

**3: Having to catch up on school work from the trip and taking time off due to the injury - it was the kind of injury that was so bad it made you really ill.**

**ANYWAY, all of my catching up should hopefully be done by next week. I am SO SO SO SO sorry for this massive break. Updates should be coming soooooooon!**


	12. Chapter 9

**A/N: So since it's been so long I thought I'd just re post the very end of the last chapter at the start of this so you can all remember what happened. Thank you for waiting so long! I'll explain my plan at the end of this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA!**

JPOV

I knocked on Dimitri's door. I knew it was late, and he probably wouldn't be very impressed, but between Eddie's practice and a 'meeting' with Ian, I'd been very busy.

"Jess," He sounded a little surprised, "What can I do for you?"

"I need your help."

"What with?" He asked letting me in.

"I'll do the easy bit first." I muttered as he shut the door, "Eddie doesn't want to have a date for the dance, and nor does Rose by the looks of it. But the thing is, I don't really want them both to spend it by themselves, so, I just thought it might be a good idea for the two of them to go together. Not dating because we both know that's not what either of them want but...just together."

He nodded, "I'll talk to her."

"And then there's the second thing. You and Rose; are close. And I..." I sighed; I couldn't quite work out how to phrase it.

Dimitri stayed quiet, waiting for me to get out exactly what I wanted to say.

"You love Rose, I can see that. And I feel the same way about Eddie and I was wondering how you went about...doing all of it."

* * *

><p>Dimitri physically took a small step backwards, obviously quite taken aback.<p>

Eventually he spoke, "Does he know?"

"Yes."

"All right," He nodded and thought for a few minutes, "Well I tried _not _to do anything at all. But Rose is...persistent. The only...the only thing I can say is that you need to make it clear to him what it could do to his career."

"Hey Belikov," Adrian said swanning into the room like he owned the place, "Do you know where R-...oops." He stopped when he saw me, "Since when did you ever talk to anyone?" Adrian asked Dimitri.

Dimitri shook his head a little, "Rose is probably with Lissa."

Adrian shrugged the situation off, "Thanks. Jess when you're done, I think it's time we had dinner. To catch up."

"Adrian it's three in the afternoon. I'm not planning on being her for like...five hours." I said smiling a little.

"Well when you'd eat...say half six?"

"Where?" I asked.

"My room?" He suggested.

"All right. I'll be there."

He grinned slightly sheepishly and left.

"You might want to not..." Dimitri frowned as he tried to think over what he was trying to say.

"I know. But he's right, we haven't properly spoken since I came back." I smiled a little, "There's nothing there. He knows that."

Dimitri raised an eyebrow, "Adrian never knows when to stop."

I laughed, "Ok, maybe that's true."

He smiled, "Well, to be honest that's all I can give you. But if you need me, any other advice, just ask."

I nodded, thanked him and left.

* * *

><p>I knocked hesitantly on Adrian's door. While I waited for him to open it I fidgeted little; adjusting my blazer, not staying still etc... Eventually Adrian threw open the door and let me inside.<p>

Dinner was pizza. He hadn't gone for anything extravagant, just good old pizza. Comfort food. That was probably the intent.

"I figured you'd be too sensible for alcohol." He murmured sliding a glass of coca-cola across the table.

I smiled, "Thanks."

"All right, one thing at a time. Sophie..." He let out a sigh, "How do you feel about what happened with her?"

I laughed, "If you're getting at guilt, yes, I feel guilty. But, I _have _accepted that there's nothing I could have done. The biggest thing is...I miss her." I looked down at my food, "She did so much for me...but then, I suppose there's another sort of guilt...I never told her what was going on." I ran a hand over my hair as I looked back up at him, "Which I suppose it what you want to know next."

He nodded, "I suppose you should just keep talking..."

I almost laughed again, "All right. Well there's Ian." I paused to think of how to say it, "I think I'm just going to call it an abusive relationship and move on."

"Ok, you don't have to go into it." He said softly.

"Thanks." I stopped for a few minutes and ate some of the food he'd provided, calming myself down a little.

"Is that what's going on now or...?"

"Sort of. I mean there's more to it than that." I looked down again.

"All right, what else? Stan? Cos you know he..."

"No. Not Stan. Ian's Guardian's...dangerous too. Tatiana's eyeing my every mood as well as Rose's. And..." I frowned a little, "I've fallen for someone I shouldn't have."

"You have a tendency to do that." Adrian smirked, "You'll work it out whoever it is."

"I wish..." I muttered.

"Jess. Bar me and this Ian guy, you fall for the right, smart people. Because that's who you are. The kind of guy you want. And if he's even slightly decent he'll try and work it out with you."

"But he has, that's the problem!" I exclaimed.

"You're not making any sense." He admitted leaning back a little.

"I...if anything happens between me and him it will seriously fuck some things up."

"Woah, Jess. Just calm down." He walked round the table and knelt in front of me so I wasn't looking up, "Whoever this guy is, he'll _choose_ to be with you. You won't force him. So there's no guilt there if it ruins anything for him. And on your part...well you're a risk taker. You'd regret it more if you _didn't _try." He stood up and pressed a very light kiss to my cheek, "All right?"

I nodded slightly reluctantly. "All right all right."

"Calmer?" He asked.

"Yes." I smiled a bit.

"Good. Now" he slid a hand across my cheek and twisted his fingers in my hair, "Let me just..."

He pressed his lips into mine in a very gentle, hesitant kiss.

"Hey hey hey!" I pulled back shoving him away, "Don't you dare."

He chuckled, "Exactly the reaction I was hoping for."

"Huh?" I was ever so slightly confused.

"I had to test how strong your feelings are for him." He shrugged, "So, who's the guy?"

I shook my head, "No I shouldn't."

"What am I going to do? Shout it from the high heavens?" He demanded.

I sighed, "Eddie. Eddie Castile."

Adrian laughed, "The most stable guy _you've_ ever liked."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Yes. I lied earlier." He said still smiling.

"Adrian..." I sighed, "You are ridiculous."

He smirked, "You wouldn't like me if I wasn't."

"You're right there." I stood up, "I'm gonna go. I'm tired."

He nodded, "All right. But Jess...I know it's against the rules, but you sound a little stressed. You should talk to him."

"I can try."

**A/N: Ok, so the plan is to update one fanfic on a Monday. And then one at the weekend if I have time. (I know this isn't monday but I didn't have access to my internet)**

**Now I also have a question for you all. Have any of my readers read the poison study series? (maria V snyder) you might now it as the Yelena Zaltana, or something like that, novels. If you have could you let me know in a review and I might run a plot line for a fanfic by you.**

**Please review guys!**

**Chocorose x**


	13. AN: Here we go again

**A/N: So here's a little update in case you're all wondering where I am.**

**I have loads of exams, GCSE and other coming up, so I'm basically living in a cave revising LOL. **

**I'm going to update as much as I can. I'm aiming for once a week but you can see that hasn't really happened. The exams end around June time I believe. **

**I'm sorry to be leaving you all, AGAIN and thank you so much to all of you who are patient enough to wait while I get my personal things out the way.**

**I have the next chapter of assassinating in blood drafted so that should be up soon. And I know what's happening with Forever's a Curse in the next chapter. Teacher's Pet may take a little longer. Anyway, thank you and sorry!**

**Chocorose x**


	14. Chapter 10

**A/N: I'd left this for so long I had to go back and re-read the whole thing so I could remind myself of the character and the storyline...oops. As I was reading it...I couldn't help but feel like this is really bad...**

**Anyway, sorry guys, but I think I've posted the A/N's on here too so you all know why and I'm really sorry but it's out of my control. I'm afraid as much as this is definitely what I prefer doing, my exams are more important!**

**So I've skipped a few weeks otherwise it was probably going to get a little bit samey...I doubt that's a word though. **

**Also, I do apologise, I completely forgot that Victor Dashkov's trial was in Shadow Kiss, so we're just going to say he's already gone to jail etc because it doesn't really fit in this plotline. I started this before re-reading Shadow Kiss hence me forgetting. Sorry if any of you were wanting to read that bit! Plus I've made it all suit a little more to this, so maybe little things might be different to the book eg Mia still at the school. I don't think it matters, but it won't follow things exactly or anything like that. Did that make any sense at all? **

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA!**

JPOV

"So why aren't you doing the field test?" Eddie asked giving up on stretching for a while.

"I wouldn't know where to begin." I admitted, "Being here, as a teacher is all a bit...odd. I can remember mine so clearly that...it doesn't really make sense in my head, to be doing that." I shrugged, "It's no big deal. I'll just be patrolling instead."

He raised his eyebrows, "Surely patrolling's a lot more boring."

"Yes. It is." I smiled slightly, "But, it'll be fine. Who do you want to have? As your Moroi."

"I'm not sure." he frowned as he thought, a slightly confused cute expression taking over his face, "Christian's probably a good bet."

"Lissa?" I'd began to catch on to the nicknames.

"No. She's Rose's." he shook his head.

I laughed, "For a field test? Doubt it. Everyone knew I was going to be Sophie's Guardian. But I was paired with a Badica I think. Honestly I can't remember her name. I may be able to remember the fights, but the Moroi? Not at all. They like to make things difficult. Spice it up a little. To see how everyone copes. Not just the Dhampir's, the Moroi too. Two birds with one stone."

"That seems...odd." he frowned again.

"One of them will die eventually. There's no denying that. And if they don't die at the same time then they need to be able to deal with protecting or being protected by someone else. Rose relies on that bond. Could she protect Lissa without it?" I pulled my hair out of the tie and let it messily fall down to my shoulders.

Eddie paused, "She could. But it'd be hard for her."

"Exactly. A little bit of practice never harmed anyone. Now, sparring or something else?"

"Sparring." He nodded.

* * *

><p>It was no surprise that Rose wasn't impressed. It was also no surprise that she felt the need to cause a scene. I left before it got serious, mostly so, if Tatiana asked I'd have nothing to say as I wasn't there. It seemed like a reasonable excuse.<p>

"Jess, I was looking for you." Ian said walking into step beside me.

"Well I haven't been anywhere unexpected. You can't have looked very hard." I snapped.

He chuckled, "I didn't say how long I'd been looking for. Calm down."

I shook my head, in a half-hearted attempt to get some of the anger out of me, "What do you want?"

"I'm intrigued as to what you'll be singing tonight. You know I hate surprises."

For some reason, Kirova had arranged it so the audition part of the whole band nonsense had been done the day before the field test started. I don't think anyone knew why she'd chosen that. The woman was insane. But she did seem to hate me a little less than before. Perhaps now it was all aimed at Rose. Or maybe she felt sorry for me. It was always hard to tell.

"I haven't quite decided yet." I said slowly, "There are a few different ones that they've got the music for. I'm not interested enough to waste my time picking a song."

Ian laughed this time, "You might at least want to practise once first though. Wouldn't want to make a fool of yourself."

I gave him a look, "I'm sure you'll manage to make me to that no matter what I sing or how I do it."

"I'll make it turn out however I want." he shrugged, "I know you can sing. But what I need to know, is whether you enjoy it or not."

"Why on earth would you need to know that?" I demanded.

"Jess you know where I stand with you. Whichever irritates you more I'll have happen." He smiled.

"That's...petty."

"When it happens once, yes. But it's the little things that are important." he walked away

I had no idea what that was about. I was still trying to decide what he'd really wanted when I discovered I'd wound up at Eddie's door. A part of me must have just wanted to see him. So I knocked.

He didn't have a roommate. They'd never replaced Ashford. I didn't know much about what had happened. But I knew the basics. Mainly. He let me in without hesitation. I hadn't actually been in there before. We either met at the gym, outside whatever class he'd had, or it'd be at my room. I did know where he stayed though.

It was quite...sparse. There wasn't much there. There were a few marks on the walls where a tiny bit of paint had come off, or the remains of a piece of paper that had been ripped off still clung to the walls. Hints that there'd been a breakup or someone had died. I knew it was the latter. The walls had probably held pictures, perhaps of him and Ashford, or with Rose in them too. The marks showed he'd ripped them off, the way I had with the pictures of Sophie. A tell tale sign.

But aside from the walls everything was spotless. Four books sat in a pile on the desk which was otherwise empty and clear of any sort of dust. The table holding the computer was tidy too. It didn't seem like he sat in his room tidying all day, it was more like...he just didn't have much stuff. It was probably a much easier way to live than how I did. With little pieces of paper, ornaments, books scattered across every inch of surface area on anything slightly elevated off the ground. It wasn't that it was messy, it was just cluttered.

"What do you need?" he asked after I didn't say anything for a couple of minutes, I'd been busy taking in his room.

"If I'm honest I don't know..." I sighed, "Are you...singing tonight?"

"Sadly." he sighed himself, "I don't see why she felt the need to make us do this."

I smiled slightly, "It's one of those enrichment things they try to get you do to. Everywhere does it, I just assumed st Vlads would either ignore that, or do something less extreme. It's supposed to...make you more all-rounders or something. Better people. Happier probably. It's probably supposed to bring students and teacher's closer. Not that that really seems to need to be done."

Eddie's cheeks flushed a little when he managed to work out what I was hinting at.

"But as a general rule, most students don't even talk to the teachers in class." I added hastily; he really did seem quite embarrassed, "Take Stan for example...no one talks to him unless it's to insult him. Shame the girls don't get to see that...I guarantee Stan and singing shouldn't mix."

He laughed now, "He won't live it down."

"Even if he _can _sing." I smirked, "Now that would be a sight worth seeing. But we get Alberta."

"Mmm, I can't imagine anyone's really interested in this." he ran a hand over his ridiculously messy hair; something must have gone wrong in the styling department that morning. It was a lot like Adrian's.

"There'll be someone taking it seriously. Mia perhaps." I suggested, curious as to how he'd react.

He rolled his eyes, "She takes everything seriously...do you know what you're singing?"

"Nope. I can't be bothered with it. I may like music. But not this sort of thing. Not having to perform in front of a bunch of teens I don't know." I sat next to him on the bed, "But I'll pick something. You?"

"I know but...I don't..."

"Want to tell me?" I finished for him, a slightly playful smile on my lips.

"Exactly." He looked down.

"Fair enough. Well...I need to pick a song and I'm sure you have something to do. Do you want me to stop by after or...not?" I stood.

He shook his head, "I'll be moving into Lissa's, you turning up isn't something I can explain."

"Yeah...that's probably true." Something in the way I said that seemed to be really quite hilarious. I wasn't sure if it was the tone, or the wording, but it sent us into fits of laughter for a few minutes.

"Ok ok, I really have to leave, I'll see you...when I see you." It was all a bit up in the air because of the field experience. I'd cancelled training so he could do it properly, but it did mean I really didn't know when I'd see him. I knew I would, it was just a case of when.

He nodded, "Jess, I know that one of the men who's judging it, isn't...I know you don't like him. But it'll be fine." he met my eyes, "Even if I can't do a thing, Adrian or Alberta could."

I smiled, "I know. Well...there's probably not much Adrian could do. But Alberta will put some sort of measures in. I don't know what. But there'll be something."

"Adrian could talk to his father. They are related." he teased.

"His father?" I frowned, "Yeah but he's in Court so..."

"You didn't hear? He's judging as well. Volunteered as soon as Adrian mentioned it apparently."

"Oh." I stiffened, "Well yes, Adrian could say something to him but Nathan's not one to listen. He has a mind of his own. But thank you." I forced the smile back on my face.

He walked over, always slightly hesitant, "Is something else wrong?" he asked softly.

"No." I shook my head, "I'm just not a performer. I'm really not looking forward to it."

"If you want to talk. I'm here." He pressed a very light kiss to my cheek before leaning back.

"Hey!" I complained pulling him back, "That didn't even count as a kiss." I muttered bringing his lips down to mine with a hand on his neck. I wasn't leaving without my kiss.

* * *

><p>"You know, that's cheating. Doing sound instead." I said to Alberta as I walked up, carrying my safety net, my guitar.<p>

She laughed, "I don't sing. At least you have some sort of musical background."

I smiled "Yes well, I'm no singer."

"Good luck."

"Thanks. I'm thinking I'll need it with these judges." I muttered heading onto the makeshift stage before she could reply.

"Teacher right?" Nathan said when I sat on the chair.

"Yep." I was trying, and not doing very well, to ignore who was talking to me.

"Name?"

"Guardian Woodstock"

He nodded, "Go right ahead."

I'd decided, a backing track terrified the hell out of me. So I'd gone for just playing my guitar and doing a song I'd grown quite fond of when I'd been back in England.

_Missing you, missing you  
>Oh I'm missing you, yeah<em>

_Where's the pain when you walk out the door?_  
><em>It doesn't hurt like it used to before<em>  
><em>Where's the love that we couldn't ignore?<em>  
><em>It doesn't kick like a pill anymore<em>  
><em>Where's the thrill at the end of our fights?<em>  
><em>Where's the heat when we turn off the lights?<em>

_I just miss all the mess that we made_  
><em>When we still had the passion to hate<em>

_I miss missing you, sometimes_  
><em>I miss hurting you, till you cry<em>  
><em>I miss watching you, as you try<em>  
><em>Try not to end up in tears<em>  
><em>Beggin' to get back together<em>  
><em>I just want you to be,<em>  
><em>To be stuck in this second forever<em>  
><em>So don't freak out if I leave<em>

_Sometimes I'm just missing, missing you_

_There's a dark cloud pulling me in,_  
><em>That's the girl, I was bathing in sin,<em>  
><em>There's a blind force letting it win,<em>  
><em>And its longing to tear us apart<em>  
><em>I get high when you're making me weak,<em>  
><em>Let me down till I crawl on my knees<em>

_I just miss all the mess that we made_  
><em>When we still had the passion to hate<em>

_I miss missing you, sometimes_  
><em>I miss hurting you, till you cry<em>  
><em>I miss watching you, as you try<em>  
><em>Try not to end up in tears<em>  
><em>Beggin' to get back together<em>  
><em>I just want you to be,<em>  
><em>To be stuck in this second forever<em>  
><em>So don't freak out if I leave<em>

_Sometimes I'm just missing, missing you_

_I wanna crash in your arms at the other side of the world_  
><em>I wanna die for you cause love is only true if it hurts<em>

_I miss missing you, sometimes_  
><em>I miss hurting you, till you cry<em>  
><em>I miss watching you, as you try<em>  
><em>Try not to end up in tears<em>  
><em>Beggin' to get back together<em>  
><em>I just want you to be,<em>  
><em>To be stuck in this second forever<em>  
><em>So don't freak out if I leave<em>

_Sometimes I'm just missing, missing you_

**A/N: This seemed a longer, maybe slightly better, chapter? Lol I don't know.**

**So, I'll link the song in my profile, it was **_**Missing You **_**by **_**The Saturdays **_**and I based it on the acoustic version. I almost did a different song, because I wondered if this would make you think something of her…I don't know. But I hope the fact that she liked it while she was back in England shows you guys that she's not in that frame of mind anymore…if that makes any sense or am I just rambling?**

**If any of you know much about the Saturdays, you may recognise my profile pic if you do, then I'd tell you I'd imagine Jess to have a similar voice to Una Healy in the group.**

**Don't worry; it's not a big part of the storyline or anything. There won't be chapters filled with just lyrics to songs you may or may not know!**

**Sorry for having two massive Author's notes in this one!**

**Please review!**

**Chocorose x**


	15. Chapter 11

**A/N: Um...well I had no internet, so apologies for this taking so long...but then, I didn't get any reviews = no motivation so I didn't have it written to post immediately when my internet fixed unlike forever's a curse...can a squeeze any reviews of anyone this time? Please? *cute face* ;)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA! **

JPOV

I waited for the boys to finish their auditions. A lot of people had to wait because of the field test. They had to wait for their partnering Dhampir or Moroi. Rose was waiting for Christian and Lissa was waiting for Eddie.

"Do you want me to pass on a message to Eddie?" Lissa asked me, "It's late."

I shook my head, "Thanks but, it's more that I need to ask him something."

"Well if you change your mind and want to go to bed, just let me know."

I smiled, "Thank you."

Eventually the doors opened and the boys filed out. Eddie smiled when he saw me.

"I'm going to have to steal him for a few minutes, Is that all right?" I said to Lissa. She nodded and I took him round the corner.

"How'd it go?" I asked.

He shrugged, "Fine. You?"

"All right." I leant against the wall.

"What did you want?" he asked frowning a little.

I sighed, "I just...I don't know."

He chuckled, "Well I'm glad it went ok." he squeezed my hand and started to walk away.

"Try not to get into any trouble." he called over his shoulder, "I get the feeling you're tempted to start something."

I laughed, "I can try."

Then Stan seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"There you are." He sounded relieved.

"Yeah," a slight sceptical and confused tone coated my voice.

"Badica seemed to want a word with you." he spat the name.

"Probably annoyed that I've been mainly ignoring him." I sighed and pushed myself off the wall, "Did you need anything?"

"Nothing in particular. I put the rota through your door earlier, with your new shifts for the field test."

I nodded, "I'll take a look."

"Any problems let me know."

"Is there anything I could have a problem with?" I raised my eyebrows.

"The sheer amount of it." he shrugged.

"Well I'll have nothing better to do. I'd rather be distracted at the moment." I admitted.

"Don't stretch yourself though Jess. Sometimes...sometimes it's better to cope with it first."

"Not with me Stan. Never with me." I walked away.

I hadn't realised Ian was very _very _desperate to see me. So desperate that he'd waited for me in my room.

I shut the door slowly, biding my time.

"Castile's a quiet character," he began once I'd turned round, "Certainly not the kind of boy I'd have pegged as your type. But he seems nice enough. Shame he had to fall for a girl like you."

"What _are _you talking about?" I was quite unable to keep the panic out of my voice.

"Oh Jess," he shook his head, "You know what I'm talking about. With two words I could, and plan to, ruin his career. As evidently you're too arrogant to let what I do to you change anything. I have to go through another route."

"Ian..." I started to protest. I could feel myself panicking.

He raised a finger to my lips, "I wouldn't make it worse for him if I were you."

I swallowed.

He smiled, "It's funny; I'd never have thought a Guardian would let me walk all over them like you do." he opened the door, "But then, you _are _quite weak after all."

I gritted my teeth together but let him leave. There wasn't much else I could do. As soon as the door was shut I dialled Tatiana's number. I didn't really care that it was the middle of the night.

"This had better be important." she snapped.

" I...I need your help."

"With?"

"Ian found out about me and Castile." I said slightly hesitantly.

"I told you to break that off." she sounded suspicious.

"I know. I know you did." I sank into the mattress.

"What do you want me to do about it then?" she still sounded annoyed.

"Can I come back? To Court until they graduate. Then I'll be Ozera's Guardian. That way he'll see I'm no longer interested in Castile." I was sure I was pleading with her. But something in my tone seemed to soften her.

"All right. Pack up. I'll send a plane to pick you up in the morning. And Jess, I'll make sure he still has a career at the end of this." she sounded ridiculously calm.

Relief washed over me.

"Thank you." I closed my eyes.

"Tell Petrov. I'm not doing it for you." She hung up.

I wasn't sure how Alberta would feel about me knocking on her door at two in the morning. But I had no idea when I'd have to leave. I was pretty sure she'd still be up anyway. So I knocked on her room door.

"Jessica, what on earth do you want?" she sounded very surprised.

"Can I come in briefly?"

She nodded.

"I'm so sorry that this is...so sudden. And at this time. But I'm leaving in the morning for Court. I'm not coming back until graduation." It came out in a rush. I wasn't convinced she'd understand it.

"Why?"

I avoided her gaze, "It's complicated."

"If you're leaving in the morning you might as well tell me now." She ordered sitting down.

"Ian's given me a threat that I can't afford to have him go through with. But Alberta...I can't have people know what's going on."

"Who is there to tell?" she questioned.

"I..."

"All right, I don't need to know." She shook her head, "What was the threat?"

"I can't...it would tell you who's involved." I couldn't really get the words out.

"Jess, please, be careful. Don't hurt yourself through helping every other person alive."

I smiled, "You know I can't help it."

**A/N: So I decided since this was so bad, I'd stop it here before it got any worse. UGH, I don't know why that was SO hard to write. So so hard. I'm hoping the next chapter will be better. I feel like it could be. I've tried going over this to see if I can make it any better but I just can't...for some reason this chapter hated me. So I'm very sorry for the quality of this chapter.**

**Anyway, please review! I know it was shocking but if you don't mind that'd be amazing!**

**Chocorose x**


	16. Chapter 12

**A/N: So the first thing to do is thank Do'B for their lovely review! It would certainly be nice to feed Ian to a Strigoi wouldn't it? Haha**

**Secondly, I am so sorry for not posting this sooner, I intended to update this AGES ago, but I had a bit of a personal problem crop up that was completely unexpected and out of my control. It was to do with health so there wasn't really much that could be done.**

**Then, lastly, I need a favour from my lovely readers. I was reading a fanfic on here a while back, I'd saved it on my internet favourites list and I managed to accidentally delete it...and I cannot remember the title or author and I can't find it in my searches. So if anyone knows of a vampire academy fanfiction where Rose is turned Strigoi in blood promise and the ring kind of keeps her normal, I think they also tested it on Dimitri or something. There may have been lemons in it...I'm not sure, but if I liked it then it can't have been anything awful. If you know of anything like that please link me! I desperately want to find it...**

**Anyway, enough of me, on with the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA!**

APOV (Adrian's)

If I was honest with myself, I knew Jess was going to leave. A lot of us did. But I didn't think she'd have disappeared the way she did. I thought that was more something Rose would do. Then the two of them were very similar.

Eddie was hit the worst by it. That wasn't surprising. Stan was coping. I was coping. But Eddie just wasn't. I sat down opposite him in the cafeteria, it was just me and him, everyone else were still in the queue.

His eyes were blank, his expression void of all emotion as he stared down at his food.

"She didn't go because of you." I started the conversation with no tactics whatsoever, "If she did, you'd have known about it."

Eddie sighed, "I know."

"But?" I prompted leaning back.

"I knew that she was going to leave. Or that something similar was going to happen. So I tried not to get attached, tried to...keep my distance." he frowned, "Yet it didn't work."

I laughed, "We all tried that. But she's not the type you easily forget. She lingers." I shrugged, "She won't have gone far. I'm sure she's back at Court. You'll see her again."

"But I don't want to." he shook his head.

"You will run into her again. Nothing anyone can do about that. Unless you want to end up like me. Drunk, crazy, _then _I don't think you'll be running into anyone. But, if you want to be able to see her again without it hurting, move on. Find someone else."

He looked up, his eyes flicking to mine, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You think I don't know Jess when she's in love? That and she told me." I glanced round towards Rose and Lissa. They were just finishing and coming over with Christian and Mia, "I'm sure Mia's interested."

"I don't like her." he said hastily.

"Your loss." I took a quick swig of the bottle in my jacket pocket before offering him some. I knew he'd never take it, but it was worth a try. He shook his head, a small smile on his face.

"Shouldn't be drinking that in here." Rose remarked sitting down next to me.

I ignored her. It was getting surprisingly easy to do recently.

"That's Ian Badica isn't it?" Lissa asked me, looking round towards someone who'd just come in.

I turned my head, "Yes. Yes it is."

I didn't know the man well. I didn't want to know the man well from what Jess had told me. But I did want to have a word. Before I could walk over Stan appeared out of nowhere.

"Don't." he murmured following my gaze, "You'll only get her in more trouble." Then he spoke louder, to the rest of us, "The Queen's asked to speak with Lady Vasilisa and Eddie Castile, we've decided to let you Hathaway and Belikov join them. Lord Ivashkov you can too. You leave tomorrow for Court. You should only be gone a few days." he turned back to me, "Warn her. I don't care how, just warn her." he walked away.

I'd speak to Jess in a spirit dream, it was better than a phone call.

Mia seemed disappointed, perhaps because she wasn't invited. Although I was yet to see why she'd think she'd be invited.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the dance with me?" she asked him, well whined. **(A/N: I believe I have just made this dance up, but I'm sure you can all live with that! haha)**

Eddie sighed, "All right, I'll go."

**JPOV**

Being drawn into a spirit dream with Adrian the second night at Court hadn't been on my list of things to do. But it was out of my control.

"What do you want?" I asked, skipping any sort of pleasantries.

"To warn you." Adrian said vaguely, looking around. He'd put us in some sort of forest, everything was green, in full bloom. And the air was calm, the complete opposite to how I felt."

"To warn me of what?" I demanded, still not calming down.

"Tomorrow, Rose, Belikov, Lissa, Castile and I are coming to Court. My Aunt wants to see Castile and Lissa." he said softly.

I frowned, "She wanted to speak to Eddie?" I paced the floor thinking it over, "She knows that would only make things more difficult."

"She likes to do that Jess." he strode over to me, but kept a few paces away, "Stan asked me to make sure you knew first. So it didn't come as a surprise."

I nodded, "Thank you. I'll just avoid them. It'll be fine." I knew he didn't need convincing, I did, and I wasn't doing a very good job of convincing myself.

He gave me one of his trademark smirks, "My Aunt won't want you to stay away. She'll want you there. Just to make it worse."

"Oh I know." I closed my eyes, just for a second, "Thank Stan for me?"

He nodded.

"I guess I'll...see you tomorrow." I faked a smile.

"Sure," then he let me go.

I was woken by a load pounding on my door. If Tatiana asked for something people went crazy until she got it. I opened the door, not bothering to change. It was one of the Guardian's I hadn't been introduced to yet.

"The Queen wished to speak with you." The Dhampir said calmly to me.

I nodded at him, "I'll be there as soon as I can."

I changed and ran a brush through my hair to tame it a little as I didn't have time to put it up properly.

Tatiana was in the main room, I wasn't sure what it was called. But it was the room she held meetings in, the room she greeted people in.

"You asked to see me." I said, closing the door.

"Yes, I did. I have two meetings this afternoon. One with Vasilisa Dragomir and the other with Edison Castile. I want you present with both." she ordered.

"Of course." I said simply, not allowing myself to react to it.

"I know it won't be easy for you. But I want you there. It's part of your job description. And he might be a little more compliant if he thinks you believe it's a good idea." she continued.

"If I think what's a good idea?" I questioned, keeping my voice as calm as possible so I didn't sound demanding.

"You'll find out when he does. You're free to go. But I need you back at two. Don't be late."

**A/N: Well...I don't think that was worth the wait...we just have to get through this and the next chapter before I think it'll all get a little bit better! Haha**

**Please review guys!**

**One more thing, how would people feel about something set with the V.A. characters in a completely different style of world? Where Rose is completely under Dimitri's control, the one time she gets out she meets Adrian Ivashkov, the leader of their 'rebellion'? Lol I don't know, just let me know if you think it sounds interesting and I might post it once I've completely finsihed Teacher's Pet :)**

**Chocorose x**


	17. Chapter 13

**A/N: I'm back from hols so can now post fanfics! Lol.**

**Btw I found the fanfic I was looking for thanks to a Cheryl Cole song...very strange. I don't even like Cheryl Cole that much but whatever. If it helped me find it I'm not that against it! Haha**

**Now, I know I said at the start of this that Rose wasn't seeing ghosts, but I realised what I was meant to say was she wasn't seeing them yet :P (and yes, I know that's not perfect English lol)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA!**

JPOV

Tatiana had asked me to meet everyone from the Academy. I assumed it was because there weren't enough Guardians to walk them all the two feet from the plane landing site into the wards.

But the site that met me was unexpected. It was all the people Adrian had said, himself, Eddie, Princess Vasilisa, Lord Ozera, Dimitri, and Rose. But what was unusual, was Dimitri was helping Rose out of the plane. She had her fingers pressed to her temples, she was whimpering, muttering about something.

"Get Hathaway behind the wards." I ordered the Guardian nearest to me. He nodded, picked Rose up and had her behind the wards in a second.

I'd seen something like that once before. So, I knew what was going on.

My eyes briefly fell on Eddie. He was shifting on his feet, his handsome face pointed downwards as he didn't look at me. I sighed.

"So what are you, top dog?" Adrian asked smirking.

"Something like that." I smiled at him, "Right, the Queen wants to speak with Eddie in half an hour, then with the Princess in an hour. To give you both time to clean yourselves up or whatever you need." I started to walk them back into the wards, completely avoiding Eddie's gaze, "The Guardian's here will take you to your rooms during your stay. Now if you'll excuse me I should really deal with Rose."

I walked over to where the Guardian had helped Rose to.

"Feeling better?" I asked leaning against the wall opposite her.

She nodded.

"Good, now what happened?"

She looked away, her stubbornness refusing to let her talk to me.

"Rose..." I shook my head slightly. "Ghosts?"

Her eyes widened, "How'd..."

"I met someone like you. Back when I was in England. In my time off I had to get off the radar. So I went to the people there who _were _under the radar. The Dhampir's and Moroi who'd tried to disappear for whatever reason. I ended up finding two Moroi, one was a spirit user, the other, was shadow-kissed. They'd disappeared because...well, they thought it was dangerous to stay known." I paused, making sure she was listening. She nodded to indicate I should keep going.

"They got into...well, a bit of a problem with some Strigoi. The shadow-kissed Moroi, who had the bond with the other, ended up having the darkness kind of consume him while they were there. So, the shadow-kissed Moroi, Alex, managed to, lord knows how, kill the Strigoi, there was only one there. The darkness gave him the rage I'd assume. That gave him a...oh I don't know, stronger connection to the World of the dead. It allowed him to see ghosts. And I've heard; that you've killed too." I let my eyes fall on hers this time.

She nodded again, her hand going up to scratch the tattoo slightly absentmindedly.

"So, it's quite likely, that that is what's going on. The only thing, that Moroi found that would help him, was being behind the wards. It...stopped them from getting through. I'd recommend that if possible, you stay behind the wards, until you can find out a more permanent solution. I can try and get in contact with the Moroi, to see where he'd at, but you may need to do some independent research."

She laughed, "I can do it myself. But thank you."

She looked round to see where Dimitri was waiting, he hadn't gone with the Guardian's. He'd obviously wanted to find out what was going on.

"You can give it time if you need. Don't let him force it out of you." I said before walking away, I couldn't be late for Tatiana.

"Jessica," someone said from beside me once I'd got half way there.

The voice was familiar, low, gruff, but I honestly couldn't place it. Until I turned to see them.

I paused, trying to work out how I wanted to react. He was tall, as were most of the men in my life it seemed, he had a chiselled, defined face, lined with age, and his eyes were tightened, it seemed to come naturally, in pain. He had a small scar, almost unnoticeable, on the side of his face from one of his earlier fights with a Strigoi, when protecting his charge.

"I have somewhere I have to be." I snapped, turning away.

He caught my arm, "I just want five minutes."

"I don't _have _five minutes. The Queen wants to speak with me. Organise a meeting around my shifts. Speak to Hans."

"Jessica! I am your father, you will _make _time to see me." his voice was almost a growl.

"Only by blood." I hissed, "You're only my father through blood."

I got away this time.

I was beginning to think, it was a wonder that I could like and want Eddie considering my background with men.

* * *

><p>"So what I would like from you. Is for you to refuse whatever position you are offered after you graduate." Tatiana said to Eddie, her voice sharp, piercing, "Instead, I want you to come work for me. Sometimes as my Guardian. Sometimes running errands. Now of course, you can refuse. These things are done in the Dhampir community, if you wish to become a normal, average Guardian then that may happen. I won't stand in your way. But there's no doubt that this would certainly be a more...prestigious position."<p>

Eddie seemed to squirm slightly, anxious as to what to say. He glanced at me, seeming to want to know what I thought of it. I shook my head, hoping against hope that he'd realise I was telling him not to do it. As much as I cared dearly for Tatiana and knew, that if it were to come to it, I would certainly give my life for hers, sometimes, she came out with the most ridiculous suggestions.

"Well, your Majesty," he began.

"No," she interrupted, obviously sensing from his tone he was going to refuse, "No need to make any rash, hasty decisions. You have time. I won't need a decision until after you Graduate."

He nodded, hearing her signal to leave, "Would you like me to send the Princess in?"

"Not yet."

Once Eddie was out the door, Tatiana turned to me.

"Thoughts?" she asked innocently.

"Many." I said stiffly, purposely biting back the words I wanted to say.

She sighed, "Why didn't you want him to do it?"

"He wants to protect the Moroi. Not run errands. At the end of the day it wouldn't be what he wanted. Then...I wouldn't want him caught up in the politics here. It's dangerous."

She offered me an almost sly look, "You'd worry about him?"

"Obviously." I couldn't help the defensive edge to my voice, "But why did you want him to do it?"

"You'll go back to Ozera after they graduate. I wanted to keep him away from you. And I did say, I'd make _sure _he had a position now, didn't I?"

**A/N: Sooooooooo? Was it worth the wait? LOL, probably not...**

**One thing I have to say, is it may not be until a week Monday that I update because of how I intend to do my fanfics – two per week. Apart from this week where I want to update all because of my holiday. Does that sound reasonable?**

**Please review! ;)**

**Chocorose x**


	18. Chapter 14

**A/N: No reviews :( well, whatever, I'll keep going anyway cos I'm nice like that :P**

**I'll be updating this fanfic every other Monday :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA!**

JPOV

I went to speak to my father. As much as I wanted to, I certainly couldn't hide from him forever. It was three days since the guys from the academy had left and I'd picked up extra shifts guarding Tatiana to keep myself distracted.

"Woodstock!" Hans shouted before I could even knock on the door.

"Yes?"

"The Queen needs to see you, _now_." He ordered.

I nodded, "Ok." I followed him to her room, which was rare. She very rarely ever met with anyone in her bedroom.

"Jessica." She smiled, a little too warmly at me, warmer than normal anyway.

"Your majesty." I lightly dipped my head in a hello.

"Please, sit down." She gestured to one of the chairs in the large, ridiculously ornate room.

I perched on the edge of the chair feeling drastically out of place. I did not belong in a place like that, a place so decorated, a place so expensive.

"I just got off the phone with St Vladimir's. They were attacked last night and their Guardian numbers need replenishing. I thought you might want to go." She suggested.

"Of course. What happened?"

"Strigoi got through the wards. I don't know how as of yet. Apparently they took a few...people with them." she seemed to be trying to protect me a little with her wording, which seemed even more unusual than everything else.

"Who'd they take?" I asked quickly.

"We haven't got everything yet. But I can tell you Christian Ozera's fine, as was Princess Vasilisa and Adrian."

"Good. Do you know anything about any of the Dhampir's?"

She shook her head, "They tell us about the royals first."

I nodded, "Of course they do. Is there a plane ready?"

"It'll be ready in twenty minutes. You should pack." she stood and pulled open the door. A silent invitation for me to leave.

I left, feeling the panic set in. Obviously part of me was relieved that Adrian, Vasilisa and Christian were all right. But what if Eddie wasn't? Or Stan? What on earth was I supposed to do with myself if either of them weren't all right?

I hastily packed a bag, not really caring what I forgot. I don't suppose it mattered either, hopefully it wouldn't be permanent and if it was I'd just have it sent over.

* * *

><p>Stan came to meet me when I arrived. He drew me into a quick, tight hug.<p>

"Who'd have thought I'd miss you so much in under a week." he murmured in my ear.

I laughed, "I'm glad you're all right."

He smiled, his eyes crinkling slightly at the edges, "I didn't think you'd care." he teased.

I raised my eyebrows, "So...did everyone make it?"

"Mostly...there were a lot of casualties." he avoided my gaze, "Come on, we're having a meeting."

He led me through to where the other Guardians were convened.

I shook hands with a few people I didn't know. When someone introduced themselves as Guardian Hathaway I think she noticed my confusion pretty damn quickly.

"I'm Rose's mother." she said smiling.

"Oh." I nodded; suddenly realising I had actually heard the name before.

"And you're the infamous Guardian Woodstock aren't you?" she asked, very almost smiling.

"Yes, yes I am." I smiled myself.

"Your reputation precedes you." a slight teasing smirk tugged at her lips, she was right. I did have quite the unusual reputation. I was known for fighting against the system while still protecting the queen to my grave. Then, I'd taken out an awful lot of Strigoi single handedly.

"As does yours."

The conversation ended there, the room was too cold, too anxious to have a conversation like that.

Stan handed me a piece of paper, "It's the list of those who were taken." he said softly.

I nodded and started to read. The world stopped, everything stopped. I leant against the wall to steady myself as I read one of the names only a small bit down the page. Edison Castile.

The paper slipped from my hands and Stan caught it with ease, placing it back on the table where he'd got it from.

He squeezed my hand, "He might be all right."

I looked at him sceptically for a moment, "Yes, being left to die by your own people always means you'll be all right." I snapped.

"Jess..." he began, his voice slightly whiny.

But Guardian Hathaway intervened, trying to bring some sort of order as she made a suggestion that her daughter had made. A rescue mission.

I think it was obvious that I perked up the moment she put it forward, quite drastically supporting it. There was only one bit about the decided plan that I didn't like. The fact that we had to wait for the rest of the Guardians to arrive.

Stan pushed me out of the room when he noticed me get particularly jumpy.

"Go and see Adrian, we can take it from here." he said softly.

I smiled, "Thank you."

I knocked on Adrian's door. He opened it, looking outrageously haggard. His hair was haphazardly messy and he seemed rather...drunk.

"You've taken this far worse than I have haven't you?" I said with a smile.

"Probably." he let me in.

We sat in silence for a while, a comfortable silence mind you.

"You heard about Castile then?"

I nodded stiffly.

"I'm sorry." he reached out and squeezed my hand.

I sighed, "Adrian it's not your fault. _I _should have been there to protect him." And there you go, give seconds alone with Adrian and I was pouring my heart out to him.

"No, Jess, that's not your job. He's a Dhampir, not a Moroi." he said, his tone soothing.

"It may not be my job. But it's my duty." I rested my head in my hands for just a second, before looking up at him, "I told him I loved him then I disappeared and let him get snatched by Strigoi."

"Jess," he moved to kneel in front of me, "Did you send the Strigoi to get him? Did you break the wards? Did you ask for any of this to happen to him?"

"No." my voice cracked on the word.

"So why are you blaming yourself? Hmm? You were doing what you're supposed to be doing. Guarding a Moroi. Guarding our Queen, Jess. For goodness sake, you haven't done _anything _wrong." he stood up and pressed a slightly forceful kiss on my forehead, "So, calm down."

"Yeah, yeah." I closed my eyes, relishing in his comfort.

He chuckled, "Besides, he'd never want you blaming yourself."

"I know." I leant my head against his chest as he drew me into his arms.

"Adrian," I pulled back, "Adrian I...I'm so sorry."

"Whatever for?" he looked at me, brows furrowed.

"Running off." I shrugged.

He gave me a lopsided cheesy grin, "Oh Jess, it was expected."

"That predictable huh?" I smiled, "I need to go, we're about to...well, go and rescue a load of people."

"Don't get killed!" he called after me.

"I'll try" needless to tell him that if Eddie was dead it was likely in about half an hour I would be too.

* * *

><p>I didn't get nervous over fighting Strigoi. But every damn step we took my stomach twisted in fear.<p>

Stan squeezed my hand, "He'll be all right."

"If he's fine now he will be. But we've left it so long." I sighed.

"Jess, trust him. He can actually look after himself." he smirked at me.

I shook my head slightly, "This is _not _the time for jokes Stan."

"It made you smile though." he murmured softly.

"True, very true."

I was part of the first group to go into the caves. The following twenty minutes of my life were...crazy.

Strigoi everywhere, stakes flying. I only came across Eddie for a moment, just catching his eye for a second while Alberta shoved him out of the caves. I smiled, that was Eddie, always wanting to help.

I turned my attention immediately back to the task at hand, not particularly wanting to die that day. But eventually it was as over as it was ever going to be.

We filed out, as carefully as possible. Dimitri and I at the back. There was no reason for it, we were just at the back.

My thoughts drifted to Eddie as we moved. Now that I'd seen him again, and was so close to the academy, it made me wonder if there was really no way around all this. If I couldn't stay with him. Rose and Dimitri were doing fine. All right we had a few added complications but surely...

Me and my thoughts were interrupted by a strangled cry coming from a small distance in front of me. Rose. But she wasn't in danger. She was looking at Dimitri. A Strigoi had him by the throat, pinned. The Strigoi's teeth were moving towards Dimitri's neck. He was going to take a bite and I was the only one who could save him. By putting myself in what was most likely an awful lot of danger.

**A/N: I debated with this one, where to end it and all sorts. But, I think this is probably all right...I'm thinking the next chapter might either be a bit better, or worse...lol, I'm just thinking there might be a slight difference just because of what's going to happen. But I'm not sure tbh**

**Please review!**

**Chocorose x**


	19. An apology AND Chapter 15

**A/N: Wow erm...yeah, ok, I have a bit of explaining to do...**

**Basically, I just found myself with absolutely no time on my hands and getting the ideas and time to write any fanfictions seemed to go completely out the window.**

**Yup, that's the sort of excuse I've been using.**

**But honestly? With ALL of my fanfictions, I just have not had the motivation. I don't really think it's got anything to do with the amount of feedback I've been getting etc etc, I've just sort of lost interest. It's not just fanfiction, I've lost interest in an awful lot of things.**

**Teachers Pet; is at this present moment, my favourite fanfiction. Which also means, it's the one that I want to do properly. I find it takes longer to write, because I enjoy it more. This and Dying to Serve are my two fanfics that take me ages. This because I love it, and Dying to Serve because it just takes that little bit extra to really get going.**

**So I'm certainly not giving up on my fanfictions, particularly this one, but I'm afraid the gaps are getting rather big between updates, whether it's because I've been putting in piles of work for my GCSE's or just because of my mindset, I don't really know.**

**I do appreciate I'm steadily losing readers and all of that, and I know gaps will irritate those readers who love this enough to keep reading. But, I write for myself. No offence intended to anyone but I do it for me, not for everyone who reads. If the writing stops doing anything for me then I know it's time for a break. **

**I am very sorry for the wait, the very long wait, but finally, here's the next chapter, it may be a little short, but hopefully it's still enough for you to enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA!**

JPOV

Of course I could have analysed the situation before I'd gone in head first. It would and could, only end one way. But being the crazy person I was, I let my instincts take over. I shove Dimitri out the way as I propelled myself towards the Strigoi. Once Dimitri was safe, he didn't move away, he started to move back, to help me.

"Hathaway get him out!" I shouted, pointlessly struggling against the firm, rock hard arm the Strigoi had wrapped around my chest.

And then, for once, the piercing scream normally made by the Moroi, was my own.

**APOV**

"So who's going to tell him?" Stan asked me.

"You're his teacher." I said, "Or, we could just not tell him. I mean, look, he seems quite happy to have Mia at his side while he has no idea where she is."

"He'll assume she's safe Adrian. She's one of the best." Stan had a growl in his voice.

"Yes well even the best get hurt. We'll do it together. Doctor." I caught her as she left the schools infirmary, I'd imagine to gather some sort of supplies, "Is Eddie all right for us to tell him about Jessica?"

"He's unharmed. It'd be fine." Doctor Oldenski said **(A/N: is that spelt right at all? Haha) **"although, it certainly wouldn't do him any good."

We went in anyway. Someone had to tell him at some point.

"Eddie," Stan began, his tone already showing something would happen, "I think it would be best if we spoke to you without Mia."

He nodded and his eyes narrowed a little, probably in thought, while Mia kissed his cheek in goodbye.

"So what is it?" he demanded. Over the past few weeks, something had hardened in Eddie. I wasn't sure anyone liked it.

"Jess was taken by one of the Strigoi while we were in the cave." Stan said not letting his expression betray anything.

Eddie sank back onto the hospital bed, "How?"

"She saved Dimitri by getting in the way instead. She might be alive, we'll find out this evening when we go back." it was my turn to talk and even I could tell I didn't have the most sympathetic tone, "Well, when the Guardian's go back."

He nodded and closed his eyes, "All right, I'll just have to wait."

**This bit is in the third person...**

"What?" Tatiana growled into the phone, "How is that even possible?...Then why didn't Belikov...I see. Let me know the instant anything develops." she hung up the phone and called in a Guardian.

"Get Hans here." she ordered.

Hans was there in under a minute, even though he'd been at the other end of Court.

"Yes your majesty?"

"I want you to go to St Vladimirs. If Guardian Woodstock is alive, I want you to personally make sure she gets out of there."

Hans nodded, "Of course. Are there any details you can give me?"

"They went on a rescue mission. A cave near the academy. A Strigoi took her by the neck while she saved Guardian Belikov's life. There is a possibility that she's not been turned or killed." Tatiana said keeping her voice sharp.

"Ok, I'll get over there now."

Once he was gone, Tatiana swept through Court and to her rooms. Once there, in private, she called her Nephew. But afterwards, the Moroi queen cried.

**A/N: That's it for this chapter! Sorry for the slightly dis-jointed section of the middle with Adrian's point of view, apparently I had problems conveying emotion this chapter...**

**I also apologise for the length of the chapter but you already know what's going on with that...**

**Please review! Hopefully it helps ;)**

**Chocorose x**


	20. A very bad AN

**A/N:**

**No one will want to see this I'm sure, but I think most of you know it's due.**

**I've sort of lost my passion for this, all of my fanfictions, so of course this is going on all my fanfictions. So, they're going on the backburner. Very literally.**

**I don't want to give up for my readers, but I also know that I've got interests in other things now. It's actually still writing, but not things that you put **_**on **_**fanfiction. Also I don't enjoy being committed to eventually having to have it made presentable. It might sound silly to you but I suppose since I consider it a hobby, having it more as something I need to do just puts me off.**

**Basically, if it appears no one's interested it's highly likely it won't get updated. Also, even if I do update it'll probably take uh...a while. I'm honestly very sorry but I figured I should just tell you all straight and leave it at that.**

**It would be highly unfair for me to leave all of my fanfictions blank with no explanation, hopefully after Christmas I'll get interested again, but then it's exam territory so...**

**Maybe by September things'll be more sorted and we can get back to normal but right now, I know I need to stop.**

**So overall: If there's an update, there's an update :P**

**Chocorose x**


	21. Chapter 16

**A/N: So I don't need to explain myself as you know what's been going on. But I do apologise again!**

**Also, a heads up for all of you, I'll be updating one fanfic every week and I think I have four fanfictions at the moment.**

**I started uploading it alphabetically, and this one's last. Which was really annoying me, because Teacher's pet is always the one I'm itching to write and I never quite know why...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA!**

JPOV

Well, temporarily I was alive. I was on the floor, on my back, almost feeling paralysed but I knew I could move. I appeared to still be in the cave, the ground beneath me felt to be rough, cold, like a cave floor and I was freezing. My leg was twisted at an angle and there was a hot pain at my calf, perhaps there was a wound there or something.

I opened my eyes and found I wasn't quite on my back like I'd thought but more side on so I had a view of the cave before me. A very gruesome view. There were five, maybe six dead bodies that I could see that had been ours. There were three Strigoi remaining, one of which was the one who'd caught me and they were deep in conversation. Any sort of stake was far out of reach and I knew I wouldn't get very far even if I fought one of them off.

It was the moment when I shifted to stop the searing pain running up my leg that they noticed me.

"Ah, I was wondering when you'd wake." The Strigoi said stalking over. The other two scurried out the way. He was obviously the leader.

He looked down at me, his eyes taunting.

"Why am I still alive?" I asked after a few moments of him just staring.

"Because I need a small piece of information from you." he said, pacing the floor in large strides with his hands clasped behind his back.

I propped myself up as much as I could manage with my arms, it was a struggle. I was in a lot more pain than I could ever remember being in.

"Now," he twisted suddenly on his heels to face me, "how much do you feel like sharing?"

"I'd imagine not very much." I said boredly, wincing when I managed to finally sit up.

He took a swipe at my face, forcing me to look the other way at an impossible speed. I spat out the blood, the rusty taste normally did enough to make me sick. This time though, I was far, far past that stage.

"What I need to know is; who are the Guardian's that will be assigned to Princess Vasilisa on her graduation? Rumour is that it's changed."

"I have no idea." I snapped angrily.

He slowly lifted his leg and pressed it into the wound on mine. It felt like slow motion, but I still couldn't get away in time. Pain shot through my body and I shouted in pain.

"Jessica," he murmured, leaning down and holding my face in his hand, "You don't want to test me now, do you?"

I pulled my face away, "It's probably a touch dull just to tell you what you want to know though isn't it?"

He smirked at me, "It would be boring for me, not you."

I wasn't quite sure when his hand had ended up there, but it was at the wound in my leg, again. I squeezed my eyes shut as he tugged at the flesh.

"Not enjoying that?" he taunted before crushing my knee with his foot, "How about now?"

I choked on my own tongue as breathing through the pain became almost impossible.

"I can't even see why you want to know. Killing them off won't help. She'll get new Guardians anyway." I snapped once I'd found my voice again.

"Oh I don't intend to kill them just yet." The Strigoi folded his arms across his chest, "That comes later. But it will just...give me time to learn more about them."

I frowned slightly, considering it, "I don't suppose a Strigoi's motive needs to make sense."

He took hold of my leg and stretched it out, compared to before that hardly did any damage. He, surprisingly gently, brushed up the material of my jeans to reveal fully what he'd managed to do to me. His long, cold fingers danced across my skin, occasionally applying too much pressure. It seemed to me that it was an odd type of torture.

"Just shout if you need anything." he walked away.

I groaned and let my head fall against the wall, conserving my strength.

Something tapped my foot. I wearily opened my eyes to find a stake. One of the presumed bodies wasn't as dead as I'd thought.

I nodded at him in thanks before nudging it behind me and out of sight.

The Strigoi gave me a few minutes to get my strength back. Then he sauntered back over with his hands in his pockets. I avoided his eyes; there was something about a Strigoi's eyes that always caused a twist in my stomach.

Now I'd thought that most of their kind enjoyed being able to see their victim's terror, to stretch things out and whatnot. But instead, he went for kicking me in a way that led to him being unable to see my face as I was doubled over from the action.

I could feel his shadow start to get closer as he leaned down. I reached behind me to grip the stake and waited.

The Strigoi got me in a hold by my neck and yanked me up into a standing position.

"Still don't feel like just giving me two, small names?" his voice took on a sickly sweet edge, as if to coax me into it. Because that would help seconds later considering he would beating the crap out of me.

"Not likely." I shoved the stake into his chest, hoping against everything that in my slightly delirious state I had the angle right. Some part of the automatic ingrained instincts I had in me from all of those long, dull, years of training had proved to be rather useful as he dropped to the floor genuinely dead.

I still had two Strigoi to deal with who had yet to notice what had happened.

"We need to get going." one of them said to the other, "It'll be light soon."

The other one nodded and turned to find the Strigoi who'd been set on me.

I gripped the stake in my hand as I attempted to decide if I could really, realistically, take the two of them on with a broken leg and all sorts of other injuries. However, I never did realistic, especially when I didn't have another choice.

They hesitated for a moment, eyeing me, but then they advanced. I did appear and feel rather helpless.

For once they used the right kind of tactics; both moved in together. I stayed against the wall for balance; it was dangerous otherwise, as much as I hated being trapped.

I threw the stake at one, getting the aim perfect. I could not take them both on at the same time. The second one appeared to be less experienced than I was used to, perhaps making it a slightly fairer fight. My lack of stake did pose a slight problem though.

I dived for it, turning my body in the air to keep out of his grasp and skidded across the ground on my front. Now that was painful.

The Strigoi jumped me and we struggled on the floor. He pinned me down, his mouth moving dangerously to my neck. His teeth sank into my skin and all of my resolve faltered, disappearing in an instant.

The endorphins hit me in waves as he drew blood from my vein, taking away the aching in my body. He released my hands from his grip to hold me closer to him and one of my hands fell against the ground, specifically against the stake. Feeling that familiar shape, familiar metal, against my fingertips, knocked a whole lot of sense into me and I slammed it into his chest and he fell off me.

With the danger gone, the exhaustion crashed into my body and I lost the strength to even move. So I remained there to sleep.

**A/N: I know it wasn't an exceptionally long chapter, but it seemed to take a very long time to write...**

**Now when we eventually get to the end...who wants a sequel?**

**Thanks for reading this chapter and sticking with me even through the wait! Please review!**

**Chocorose x**


	22. Chapter 17

**A/N: Here's the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA!**

JPOV

I started to become aware of a mild commotion occurring from near the entrance of the cave. I couldn't move anyway.

People started coming in, a rather large number of them. All Dhampir's. Three surrounded me after a few moments.

A familiar hand touched my neck to check for a pulse.

"I'm alive you don't have to do that." I batted the hand away.

Stan chuckled and called for something, I couldn't quite work out what.

I forced myself to open my eyes and saw who the three people were, Stan of course, Hans, and my father. I frowned at the last two, wondering what on earth had happened. Hans explained.

"Tatiana wanted me to make sure you got out and you father was worried." he said gently.

I shook my head as I propped myself up on my elbows, "Utter nonsense."

Stan knelt beside me to briefly examine the wounds, "You're not going to be able to walk, so there's a stretcher coming." he brushed my tangled mess of hair away from my face, "What happened?"

"He wanted information. So I figured I wouldn't tell him and I'd stake him instead." I said dazedly as the pain started to hit me again.

"Ok," he squeezed my arm, "We'll have you out of here in a moment."

"I don't care Stan." I whispered, "I really don't."

"All right." he murmured soothingly as he pressed his lips to my forehead, "Just rest then."

He combed his fingers through my hair while we waited. But we didn't wait for long. The stretcher was placed beside me and Stan and Hans carefully lifted me onto it.

"I could just hobble." I muttered.

My father sighed, "Jess, we're helping you, please."

I rolled my eyes at him and winced as they lifted me up.

"Does this honestly require three people? It doesn't quite help my reputation."

Stan let my father takeover of his side, my head, "I'll go back in and bring some more people out."

When we got out of the cave, the light was almost blinding, far, far too much for my eyes so I let them close. And I let myself fall back asleep.

* * *

><p>Adrian was the only one there when I woke up. I don't know why, but I wasn't expecting Adrian. I definitely hadn't been expecting Eddie but...I figured I thought it would be Stan.<p>

He gave me a warm, but slightly off smile, like he was nervous.

"Lissa healed the main things, your leg and bites. I knew you wouldn't want her healing more than necessary and she couldn't have managed it after everything else."

"Adrian, even that wasn't necessary but thank her for me when you see her? I don't know if I'll see..."

"Are you _planning_ on leaving? Again? Jess, there are people here who I don't think can take that. My Aunt doesn't _need _you there." his voice was almost desperate.

I sighed, "I don't know. I'd need to speak to Alberta and Eddie first."

"Yeah..." he frowned, "Let me just get Stan."

When they both came back in, each of them had rather grave expressions on their faces, like someone had died. But I could see it wasn't as bad as that.

"We didn't tell you before because we didn't know how he'd react when he got back and knew you were here." Adrian started, but let Stan continue.

"Eddie's been dating Mia since you left. And Jess...he's not going to break it off."

I closed my eyes, just for a moment, while it sunk in. Could I really have expected him to have just...not dated anyone? Could I really have expected him to wait after vanishing like that?

Eventually I nodded, coming to my senses, "Thank you, for not telling me before." If I'd have known it wasn't certain that I'd have gotten out.

Adrian was a great man, but he didn't do well in situations like these, he couldn't quite comprehend what I was feeling, or what I meant. So he left.

Stan on the other hand, had been through it all before me. He understood.

"We'll get you to your room." he helped me up, "There are people who want to see you but it can wait. They can all wait."

He guided me to my room, but I was too hazy to realise he was treating me like I was helpless, which meant I probably _was_ helpless.

Once there, he held me for a while. This hold though, wasn't for me. He was too desperate. I guessed they'd all thought they'd lost me, I hadn't expected to get out. If it hadn't been for the Strigoi's craziness, I would have been dead, easily. Or worse.

"Jess, I miss you." he murmured, burrowing his way into my hair, "I know what I told you before but..."

"Shh." I stepped back and gave him a brief peck on the lips, "It's ok. Just tell me what you want to do."

"I _want_ you to let me love you again." his forehead rested gently on mine as he spoke and his eyes closed.

I smiled, "Stan, you don't even need to ask. But," my tone lowered as I hit the serious part of this conversation, "It won't last forever. I'm most likely ever so slightly heartbroken over Eddie. So please, don't...get your hopes up."

He nodded, "I already knew that."

Then he kissed me, carefully, like something might go wrong. But soon he deepened the kiss and drew me closer.

"Does that have to be done now?" a voice came from the doorway. A very familiar voice. I was _sure_ we'd shut the door.

I spun round to see the Queen.

"What on earth are you doing here?" I demanded, ignoring the bright red Guardian beside me.

"I came to check up on you." she sighed at my tone.

"For goodness sake Tatiana, a band of Strigoi recently attacked these buildings! It's not safe." I exclaimed, sometimes the woman was ridiculous.

"I'm safer here than anywhere else Jessica. My two best guardians are here along with many, many others."

I shook my head, exasperated, but pushed Stan out the room before she could mortify him further.

"Did you just open the door without knocking then?" I snapped, she obviously hadn't done a thing to calm me down so far.

"Yes." she gave me one of those irritating, playful but ever so slightly menacing smiles of hers.

I resisted the urge to groan, "Well I'm fine. A little...injured but nothing that won't heal. So what else do you want?"

"To find out what you intend to do. Hans is rather relaxed about the whole thing, so whether you come back to Court or stay here as neither here nor there to him. But I know it's a big thing for you, so I wanted to find out in person." she shrugged.

"If I go back to Court, I'll come running here if something happens, it just seems...daft for me to go. I'm sorry." I genuinely was, I always felt safe at Court, odd considering it was where things had started to go wrong, but maybe it was Tatiana.

"All right." she nodded, not a hint of emotion on her face, "Hans will talk to Guardian Petrov."

"Thank you."

Stan had waited outside, pacing anxiously. Tatiana swept past him, ignoring him completely and I tugged him back inside.

"Are you okay?" I asked, resisting the instinct to laugh at his still purple expression.

He nodded, "Just...worrying that the Moroi Queen can sneak up on two Guardians."

I laughed, "Perhaps, but, normally the two Guardians would be on duty, so it would be difficult to do usually."

"You're father's actually uh...booked an appointment to see you tomorrow, he said that was what you told him to do." Stan looked confused.

I laughed, "Wow, when?"

"Ten, you have absolutely nothing else to do all day so Alberta said you could do it." he shrugged.

I nodded, "I need to speak to him anyway. I would rather I did it when I didn't feel _quite _so bad. But he's family. Apparently that's the most important thing."

He smirked, "That's never quite the case though, is it Jess?"

**A/N: Okay, I got a tiny bit lost towards the end of this chapter...I got really quite bored.**

**Please review! At least one would honestly be lovely, a lot better than none...**

**Chocorose x**


	23. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA!**

JPOV

"You wanted to see me?" I poked my head round the door, feeling the nerves from when I was a child start to settle in.

Out of my two parents, my father had always been the one that told me off, the one that enforced discipline and the one that terrified me. But for a long time I'd still looked up to him, until my last year at St Vlads.

He smiled, "I didn't think you'd turn up."

I shrugged, "Haven't got anything better to do."

I took a seat on the only chair in the room. He was staying in one of the guest rooms, it was nice enough, not quite as nice as the Guardian rooms at Court, but it was fine. Slightly better than my room anyway.

"Look," he sighed and folded his hands in his lap, not something he did very often, "I know you bl..."

"No, I don't." I interrupted, irritated that he still believed that, "I don't blame you for it. You blame yourself."

He nodded, his brows furrowing a little though, like I'd shattered his beliefs but didn't want to show it, "Are you all right? After what happened."

"Yeah. I'm a Guardian, that sort of shit happens." I didn't want to go into details with him, I very rarely did.

"Boyfriend?" he asked.

"Yep."

"Who?"

"Stan."

"Guardian Alto?" he sounded surprised.

"Yep."

So he fired questions at me, simple yes or no questions for about half an hour. Until I'd had enough.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think this is a good idea." I started to leave, but his skilled hand caught my arm, preventing my escape.

"I'm leaving tomorrow, back for Court." he said softly, "But I want you to know, if you need me, you can call."

Something inside me snapped and I looked up at him. I could barely get my voice out, but when I did, he heard all right.

"What if I told you I need you now?"

He wrapped his arms around me, drawing me into his arms, somewhere I hadn't been for years.

"I miss her." I mumbled into his chest, knowing he'd understand what I was talking about.

"I know Jess. Me too." he squeezed me tighter.

Six years before, my mother had been killed by Strigoi. My father hadn't been on duty, but he'd been in the building. I'd been on holiday. But, my father had been in the shower, missed the whole thing completely to come down and find she was dead. He'd been beating himself up about it ever since, so much so that I couldn't even talk to him anymore.

"Has something else happened?" he took a few steps back and lowered himself down to my level so he could look me in the eye.

I just laughed, "Many things. What do you want to know first?"

He sighed, "Start from the beginning, I have time." Unfortunately, so did I.

* * *

><p>When I left my father, exhausted, I walked straight into Eddie. <em>Into <em>Eddie.

"Sorry." he apologised instantly, but his eyes widened when he realised who it was.

I shrugged, "I probably wasn't looking where I was going."

"No, I'm sure it was both of us." he wrung his hands together anxiously.

"It's all right." I assured him, he looked positively terrified.

"Are you planning on staying?" he asked when I started to move away.

I nodded, "If I leave I'll just come back."

"Okay..." he hesitated before continuing, "I don't know if you've heard but I'm dating Mia."

I arched an eyebrow, "I know. You don't have to try so hard."

This time he let me walk away, but I turned back.

"You know Eddie, you're going to be a Guardian. You need to work on keeping your emotions in check. Or at least _slightly _hidden." It was possibly a little over the top, or just said out of spite. But I was sure he'd cope.

He nodded stiffly, evidently hurt, "If you get a chance you should go and see Rose. You got in with the band. Since they hadn't started it yet, you're still in. It's Rose, you, Lissa and Mia."

I stopped short, "They're still doing that now?"

He shrugged, "Apparently."

"Who's the boys?"

"Me, Dimitri, Adrian and Jesse. Oddly they took all my year."

"Adrian's allowed to do it?" I frowned, sure he wouldn't have even auditioned.

"He's staying at the school, that's how they're doing it."

I could tell he didn't want to keep talking to me. I didn't want to keep talking to him either. So I fully walked away this time.

* * *

><p>"For goodness sake why is this so difficult?!" I exclaimed, "Mia, you are being ridiculous. You've got the song you wanted, the duet you wanted, and most of the other parts you wanted. For a few songs you need to let other people carry it, you don't have the voice for it."<p>

She narrowed her eyes at me, "How would you know? You haven't been here."

"For starters, it's obvious. But I did hear your audition." I sighed, "I know your voice type, you're not a belter." This was not a conversation I'd expected to ever have with anyone. I didn't know a think about music, I didn't _care _about the technicalities, but I didn't want to make a total fool of myself in front of a group of teenagers, so I wasn't willing to let Mia rule. From the looks of it Rose wasn't willing either.

"She's right." Rose said, her voice a lot more gentle than mine, "You're great with the harmonies Mia, but not with the more powerful notes."

Mia huffed but let us continue sorting out the weeks. For some we had to duet with one of the boys. For half of those we knew who they'd picked so we could choose who sang, for the other half they'd know what we'd picked. Of course Mia had chosen to duet with Eddie, which honestly I wasn't fussed by. But it was a love song and I knew that would be painful. In fact, the whole thing would be painful.

We each had to each do a solo, which I certainly wasn't looking forward to, there was a group song and so on and so forth. I honestly didn't care. In fact in seemed it was only Mia who was even slightly trying.

At least it was a distraction, I thought bitterly, from what had happened with the Strigoi, from Eddie, from my thoughts. But I knew every time I'd have to suffer bullying from Ian and Nathan, now though, they didn't seem very important. I'd almost died, who cared?

**A/N: Ugh...that was horrendous. Sorry!**

**Please review!**

**Chocorose x**


	24. Chapter Nineteen

**A/N: Firstly I want to apologise for how late this chapter is and for how crap it probably will be.**

**However, I have entered exam territory now and I don't have as much time as I used to. It also gives me a lot of writers block so this chapter might feel a little disjointed. This will be my last planned update until my exams are over which is in about 5/6 weeks. I may manage to write something, I may not. I'm sorry I can't give you any more than that!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA!**

JPOV

I closed my eyes, just a little nervous. Stan pulled me over to the edge of the room, away from everyone else.

"Jess, even if you make an utter fool of yourself, you'll be okay." he wrapped his arms around my waist, "Nathan and Ian won't touch you because...well because no one is going to let them. Besides," he looked down at my outfit, "If this goes horribly wrong, you still look rather delicious."

I laughed, "You'll get that later." I gave him a swift peck on the lips, "I'm all right, I'd be crazy if I wasn't getting butterflies over this."

He left then, he had to, he probably wasn't supposed to be round the back in the first place.

"You and Stan huh?" Adrian sauntered over, "I did wonder if that would happen."

I rolled my eyes, "Miffed it wasn't you?"

He laughed, "Only a little."

I sighed, "I only hope he's not thinking it will last longer than a year or so."

"Doubt it. He knows you." he swept a hand over his hair and glanced back over towards Eddie and Mia.

"Will you stop drawing attention to it?" I snapped pushing myself away from the wall.

"Sorry. It's just...annoying me."

"Annoying you?!" I exclaimed, gaining the attention of the whole room, I lowered my voice, "It's worse for me."

"I know." he squeezed my arm comfortingly, "It'll get better Jess. I'm almost used to Rose and Dimitri now."

"They're not flaunting it though are they?" I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down, "They can't."

The bell sounded and I groaned. Adrian smirked at me.

"You're up."

I swallowed down the nerves and avoided looking at how jumpy everyone else was. It was a group song as an introduction. It was actually shockingly embarrassing. I'd managed to persuade them to tone the whole thing down, the outfits, the dancing, much to only Mia's dismay. The song itself I could bare, _Trouble, _by Taylor Swift. I wasn't generally a fan of her but I didn't hate the song.

We'd split the parts up in a manner that I didn't have to sing anything too off-putting. But singing in front of the entire school with a group of girls who were younger than me wasn't something I was entirely comfortable with.

Thankfully, I managed to run off the stage before anything too drastic happened. Eddie's eyes caught mine when I stepped round the back. I ignored the look and let Adrian come over instead.

He pulled me far from Eddie.

"You okay?" he asked me.

I rolled my eyes, "Adrian, please. I'm not a child."

He chuckled, "I know. Wish me luck." he winked as the bell sounded for the boys' turn. I shooed him away irritably. I adored Adrian yes, but there were times when he honestly made me want to beat him.

"I think we did okay." gushed Mia as her and the other girls came over, "there wasn't any booing at least."

Rose nodded, "It wasn't as bad as I thought it was be anyway."

"Are you sure you're okay with your parts tomorrow?" Lissa asked me.

I smiled, she was the most considerate person I had ever met in my life. I actually found it rather odd having read up on her. People had put her through so much I was surprised she had the patience anymore.

"Sure." It wasn't my parts that I specifically had a problem with, it was more the fact that I was going to have to sit there and watch Eddie and Mia sing a love song to each other, "It's..."

"Shush!" Mia snapped, "They're singing now."

I gritted my teeth but remained quiet, I was interested to hear after all.

* * *

><p>I'd started up my training sessions with Eddie again. Well, I say started, we'd spoken about it and agreed to start the first day of the competition, so that was where I went once I'd sorted out when I'd meet Stan afterwards. He seemed to think he couldn't leave my side, ever. If he wasn't careful he was going to drive me mad.<p>

When I got into the gym, my heart stopped, twisting anxiously at the sight of Eddie. He was sitting with his head in his hands and his body shaking as he sobbed. _What had happened? _But why was I even feeling so concerned? Yes I still...cared for him but I thought, honestly, things had started to get easier. Stan was distracting me while Adrian slowly, but surely, got me over it.

I silently took a seat beside him, waiting for him to tell me what he wanted from me.

At length he eventually lifted his head, leaning into my body so I instantly wrapped my arm around him.

"Talk to me." I murmured, unable to bare the silence anymore.

He shrugged, obviously still needing more time before he could speak.

It only took a few minutes, not very long, but it felt like forever. Watching him like that did something to me. It made me feel like utter, utter shit because for some odd reason, I thought it was because of me. Presumptuous yes, but I thought it was true.

"I don't want to do this." his voice was hoarse.

"Training?" I asked, unable to prevent he frown from forming on my face.

"No." he sighed, "No just, just being a _Guardian_."

I softly brushed my fingers through his hair, I'd wanted to do that ever since I'd left for Court. Well hell if I hadn't messed things up.

"I didn't either." I told him, keeping my voice as gentle as possible, "Eddie this world is not fair. You know that. It's crap. But, I know that you must have something, a reason to fight?"

"When you went missing, all I could think about was how when they found your body a mere ten people would go, maybe four would cry. Yet then if a Moroi had died, there would be fifty. I can't bare it."

"I'd like to think more people would go...you, Guardian Alto, Alberta, Adrian, Tatiana would most likely come resulting in at least four Guardians there and my father. That makes ten already and I'm nowhere near done." I teased.

He didn't find it very funny. His eyes just narrowed at me so I figured this wasn't something I could get him to brush off.

"Eddie listen to me." I cupped his face in my hands, not caring if anyone saw, "It gets better. You start to make your way through the ranks, you start to earn respect and you grow to care for the Moroi you're guarding. In a way, you start to...to crave a fight. You lose the fear. You lose the apprehension. Slowly, being a Guardian will be exactly what you want to do."

I rubbed my fingers into the base of his neck, completely unable to stop myself and he closed his eyes. His expression finally calm.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked, hesitant, but I needed to for my own sanity.

"About Mia?" he looked up, directly into my eyes.

I nodded, "About Mia."

**A/N: I'm ninety percent sure that was absolutely diabolical. I'm so sorry for making you wait only to produce this...**

**Please review"**

**Chocorose x**


	25. An update

**A/N: So I thought it was only right that I let you know when I'll be updating as it has been so long. First I'll explain.**

**The main thing that happened was my GCSE's. They were, and still are, very important to me and fanfiction was drastically put aside during that time. I've not even drafted the next chapter of this yet.**

**Secondly, I made a wattpad account. Yes, thinking about it, that was mildly crappy of me when I still have things on here I need to do. However, during the stressful time of exams, I found that I wasn't absorbed into the world of fanfiction, but into my own, separate ideas. I didn't consciously choose to write something other than fanfiction, it was what happened. The things I've written for wattpad I've found to be better quality and easier for me to write, perhaps that's only because I'd already written/drafted nearly the whole thing before posting anything at all. For anyone who's interested my wattpad account has the same name as my fanfiction as Chocorose64 and has two things up right now.**

**Lastly, I'm going on holiday soon for three weeks to California. I'm so excited! However, that obviously means during those three weeks I won't be able to update so I'm sorry about that.**

**I've decided in order for there to be updates, I would need to set myself some deadlines, realistic ones. I also need to post them on here to ensure I stick to them. If you're expecting an update, I'm more likely to give you it.**

**Teacher's Pet: The next chapter will be up by the 26th July (this month) a day before my trip to california. I'll also have it finished (fingers crossed) be approximately the 4th September which is when I go back to either sixth form or college.**

**Shooting through the looking glass (the sequel to Assassinating in Blood) which I appreciate you won't all read: Will be started by the 25th August which is a few days after results day.**

**The final thing I need to say, is that I am so sorry. I know I have done this before and it has caused me to lose readers, I _hate _making people wait for a story they've been reading. I hate it. I had vowed I wouldn't do that when I joined fanfiction but life caught up with me. Anyone who has been kind enough to stick with me and will wait for my updates are just...amazing. Thank you. It means so much to me that you believe that my writing is good enough for the wait, assuming anyone's actually still there. I would appreciate if you are going to stop reading, or if you have, that unless it's due to the quality of what I've written, if you could not leave any comments. The true reason for this is that it makes me even more likely to not have the motivation to write if people are commenting negatively about waiting. I understand that it irritates the hell out of you, but please keep in mind that it is irritating me just as much that I physically can't get this out to you. **

**Again, I'm so sorry and thank you so so so much for your patience.**

**Chocorose x**


	26. Chapter 20

**A/N: A little earlier than I said it would be ;) Apologies again for being so crap.**

**Adrian swears around halfway through this chapter, I apologise to anyone in advance if you find it offensive.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA!**

JPOV

I watched as he shifted uncomfortably, scrubbing an anxious hand over his face.

"Eddie." I murmured, tugging his hands away from his eyes and holding them in mine instead, "If you truly care about her, then we're fine. I can move on. But..." I hesitated, it was very wrong of me to meddle but how I wanted to, "From what I can see, you chose her because you needed someone and now you're doing it out of spite." I carried in despite him trying to protest, "It may even be an unconscious decision and I may have it completely wrong. However I can't shake the fact that I love you. More than I ever loved Adrian, or Stan or anyone else. You have to know that I am sorry for leaving and that I...I did to protect you."

He raised his eyebrows at me, "How?"

I sighed, "You know I had...problems with Ian Badica. They were a lot worse than I let on to you. I dated him, back when I was Sophie's Guardian. It was however an abusive relationship and when I pulled out of it...let's just say he wasn't particularly impressed. Since then he's been trying to make life very difficult for me. He found out about us. He was going to ruin you. I couldn't let that happen."

Eddie shook his head in disbelief, "Jess there are ways to fight a man like that, even it's not through official channels. For starters everyone here, would give me a record strong enough to combat whatever he threw at us. Secondly, you and Adrian are both close with Tatiana, she has enough influence to help, for crying out loud she's the Queen! At the very least, if you felt you had to leave, I deserved an explanation."

"I know." I told him, steadfastly avoiding his gaze, "But when you're so used to dealing with things alone, telling someone else becomes very difficult."

He nodded, "I don't suppose it matters anymore. I'm not going to hurt Mia. I'm certainly not going to break up with her now, not the day of that bloody dance that she was so obsessed with, or the day before the flipping duet." I almost laughed at him, he seemed so angry, "Look I don't know right now. With Mia I know where I stand all the time, I know that I have all the details I need. With you...I _never_ know. I never know if you physically care about me or just claim to. I never know where you are or why you've gone. I never know _everything_...I need more time." he ran a hand over his hair, "I can't do this instantly."

"All right." I didn't let myself react, that was something I had to do behind closed doors and with my trusty guitar, "Do you still want to train today?"

"Yeah, if that's ok?"

We only really had about half an hour left because Eddie needed time to change before the dance. Lessons were still off, but the more 'relaxing' things weren't. The structure of the day was a little odd to me, the morning was spent with the singing, midday lunch, afternoon free time or in my case training with Eddie and the evening held the dance. There wasn't a thing in there that I actually enjoyed. Even the training with Eddie was a mild type of torture; he was just so..._sexy _when we trained together.

Adrian found me about half an hour before the dance, Stan was on patrol for half of it so we'd agreed Adrian would keep me together for the first hour until Stan could get there. I knew Stan was beginning to feel slightly like Adrian was there more than he was but he knew there was no point in any jealousy whatsoever because in reality the only person who could do it all was Eddie. And he wasn't interested.

"How was training?" Adrian asked, leaning against the door of my room.

I shrugged, "Great. Always good to listen to Eddie tell me how much better Mia is."

He laughed, "It's probably your fault. I'd imagine you brought it up."

I scowled at him despite knowing it was true.

"I wish Alberta hadn't put me on duty for this." I muttered.

"You could have swapped with Stan." Adrian said, his custom smirk on his face, "I'm sure he'd be more than happy to oblige." he added waggling his eyebrows.

"Really Adrian?" I snatched up the stake on my desk and put it in the pocket of my blazer before turning to face him with my arms folded across my chest.

"Yes, really. It's how we used to do it." if possible, his smirk grew.

"I'd have hoped you'd have matured since then." I remarked, taking his outstretched hand so he could walk me to the hall.

"You know me better than that Jess." he shook his head at me.

I laughed, "perhaps."

I nodded at the guardian on duty outside, even though I couldn't recall his name and then we stepped into the hall.

It was nicely done. Nothing too tacky or offensive. But Adrian quickly took my attention away from the decorations when he next spoke.

"Well fuck me." he said, louder than he should have done when you considered the content of his speech.

I followed his line of sight to see Eddie, Rose and Mia standing together as Lissa and Christian approached them.

"Rose?" I asked, assuming it was her as she stood in a lovely red dress that hugged her figure perfectly.

"No I'm over that. Belikov's got her. Mia."

So I did what I had promised myself I wouldn't do and looked at Mia to take in how good she looked.

She was wearing a pink dress that fitted her in a manner that showed off her slim Moroi build and the colour set off the colour of her eyes. If you liked that kind of thing, it was actually really good. Really pretty and I could see why Adrian had been drawn to it. It was innocent but in a way that promised of something else.

The off-putting thing however, was how she was wrapped around Eddie, quite literally. While we were looking, Eddie's eyes fell my way. It was a long moment as our eyes locked and he seemed to forget his awkward position with Mia. Before anything else happened I turned to Adrian, breaking the connection between Eddie and I.

"Why don't you go? There's no point in hanging around with me." I told him.

He sighed, "All right. Don't get too...I don't know, emotional." he leaned down, pressing a quick easy kiss to my cheek.

I watched as Eddie extradited himself from Mia and made a beeline in my direction.

"You're looking rather handsome." I said, unable to stop myself as I looked him up and down to see the tight jeans and dark blue buttoned shirt.

He smiled warmly, "Thank you. Can I talk to you outside?"

I nodded.

But once we were outside and out of sight from anyone else I discovered talking wasn't quite on his mind. Eddie was taller and mildly stronger than I was, so when he took control and pushed me into the wall, crushing his lips to mine, I wasn't in a position to stop him. Anyone who knew me knew that I wasn't going to try anyway.

"Eddie," I mumbled, sure he couldn't catch a word of it through all the kissing that was going on.

When he didn't respond I tried again, "Eddie." I warned.

He leaned away and looked at me expectantly.

"What are you doing?" I asked frowning at him.

He sighed letting his forehead rest against mine, "I don't know anymore."

I slid my hands into his back pockets, forcing him closer despite how it would conflict with what I was about to say, "It's too complicated with us. With Mia it's easy. I won't ask you to get involved in this way with me. I can't. I'm sorry for drawing you in the first place. It was wrong of me."

"But you feel so...right." he breathed.

"I know." I whispered, leaning back up to kiss him lightly, "But we can't go on like this. Neither of us can deal with the uncertainty that the other offers."

"Don't you know how I feel?" his forehead creased in confusion.

I laughed and the ridiculousness of the question, "Eddie you're dating another girl, you tell me you don't want to leave her and then two hours later you're kissing me. Mixed messages there if you weren't aware."

"But I've explained it to you!" he exclaimed, moving away to pace the ground.

"You want to be that guy?" I caught his eyes, halting his movements, "You want to be the guy who cheats on his girlfriend because he doesn't want to hurt anyone?"

"No." he admitted.

"Then stop this insanity. Leave it. If you have to think about it, do it in the back of your mind. Go over it without...without acting on what you're thinking. This is ridiculous."

"All right." he conceded, "I'm sorry."

"I know." I squeezed his arm, "If you need, you _can _talk it out with me, but be aware that I can only deal with so much."

After that, the evening grew increasingly difficult. I felt like crap. It's never good when all doing the right thing does is make you feel like utter shite. Even Stan and Adrian combined couldn't cheer me up.

"Come on." Stan held out a hand, "I'm taking you to your room."

"I'm still on duty." I told him irritably.

"No you're not Jess. Look at the time."

I looked down at my watch and felt my eyes widen. I'd been so focused on glaring at Eddie and Mia that I'd lost track of time.

"Okay." I placed my hand in his.

"I'm sure I can take your mind off it." he added with a wink.

**A/N: This seemed like a lot on word but when I put it on here it seemed to shrink...sorry if it's short!**


	27. Chapter 21

**A/N: Getting near the enddddddddddddddddddddd. Probably 3 or 4 chapters left.**

**So I have to apologise for how short it is. I type it up in word and it seems a good length, then I transfer it to fanfiction and it looks awfully short...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own VA!**

JPOV

I took a deep breath, exhaled slowly and resisted the urge to pummel Mia with my fists as we headed towards the stage. Alberta's arm caught me before I could step on.

"After this we need to talk." she said calmly.

I nodded internally sighing. What more could be going on?

About two hours earlier Nathan Ivashkov had come to see me. The oddest thing in the world had happened. He'd practically begged me to ask to become Adrian's Guardian. Apparently he was worried about his son, thinking he needed a Guardian to actually get off his arse and do something with his life. I'd told him no. Adrian wasn't even in line for a Guardian as he didn't need one and I was happy with Christian, he was fairly reasonable and I wanted to keep an eye on Eddie. Although I did tell him that if Adrian ever asked I'd be there at the drop of a hat, which was very very true.

Then, Ian had appeared. We'd had an argument. A rather loud obvious argument. Over Stan. Stan was already in his place in the world so there genuinely wasn't much he could do to him. He still figured it was a good idea to try and use it as a threat though and that led to me finally telling him what I thought. The end result was really quite chaotic. I think the whole school must have heard, which was embarrassing as well as...problematic. I didn't want everyone knowing my history with Ian.

With those incidents plus the fact that this was Mia and Eddie's duet I was more than a little on edge.

"You looking forward to this?" Adrian asked, a teasing grin on his face.

"Obviously." I sighed, "If I try to kill her, it's probably best that you stop me."

He laughed, "As if I could."

The song that I presumed Mia had chosen rather than Eddie was Rihanna and Neyo '_Hate that I love you'. _A soppy love song. Of course it had been split so that Eddie sung Neyo's parts, Mia Rihanna's and the rest of us the backing vocals. But there was a bit towards the end where Rihanna sung slightly more...powerfully. Nothing too difficult but Mia didn't have the vocals for it. She did soft and sweet, much like Lissa did. And so I had to cover it for her. Rose could have done it, in fact, even Lissa could have done it, but I'd obviously volunteered, God knows why.

Every time we'd rehearsed it, Mia had hated it, and this time was no different. She glared. Eddie didn't react, well; he gave me a quick glance but nothing more. At the very, very end it got even worse. They actually genuinely kissed each other. Properly kissed each other on stage. I walked off immediately, in the middle of the kiss, to find Alberta.

"You needed to see me?" I asked finding her in her office.

"Victor Dashkov. You know who that is?" she looked up to me.

"Of course. I pretty much know the whole story. Why?"

"He's asking to see someone from the school. You're not connected to him so you're a good bet. If you're all right with that?"

"Get's me away from here for a while so why not?" I shrugged, "What about the singing?"

"We'll swap yours with Rose's for tomorrow. You should only need a day." She told me, her eyes flitting to and from her paperwork, "But there's something else I needed to speak to you about."

"Ian?" I questioned, guessing immediately from her tone.

"Yes. The fight you had...Jessica _everyone _knows." concern was plain in her voice, "I wanted to warn you."

I smiled, "Don't worry. It was obvious. I just hope he came off worse."

"Oh believe me, he did."

* * *

><p>He sat up, pulling me with him so my chin rested on his shoulder.<p>

"Are you going to tell me what happened this morning?" he asked, taking my hands in his and pulling them round his waist.

"With Ian?" I frowned, I knew Stan wasn't exceptionally close with the students but I figured even he'd have heard what had been going on.

"No, not Badica." he said irritably, "Ivashkov. Nathan. Adrian's father."

"That wasn't even important. He just wanted me to keep an eye out for Adrian. He's worried about him."

Stan snorted, which wasn't a very attractive move on his part, "He'll have wanted more than that."

"Well yes, there was a hint at sex but you know fine well that wasn't going to happen." I told him, turning my head to kiss his neck, "So what's got you so worried?"

"He seemed very pleased with himself afterwards."

"Nathan always looks smug. Now, I have a favour to ask."

He looked round, eyebrows raised, "I have a feeling I won't like it."

"Probably not. Alberta's sending me out for the day tomorrow. I'd appreciate if you could cover for me willingly? I don't want her to have to deal with assigning it to people. I know you're free at the right time."

He shook his head slightly, "Jess..."

"I'll make it up to you. Promise." I gave him my best smile, knowing there was an edge to my eyes that he'd never _ever _been able to resist.

"All right." He sighed, "she'll get me to do it anyway. Where are you going?"

"I don't know if..."

"Ok." he interrupted, leaning down and giving me a swift kiss effectively shutting me up, "Afterwards, if you can, tell me. If not then we won't worry about it."

That was something that made Stan that little bit different to Adrian and Eddie. He knew and understood why there were things I couldn't tell him. He'd been a Guardian for long enough to get it. It was something that I loved about him.

**RPOV**

I tore open the door, my eyes narrowing at the guy on the other side. It _must _have been at least four in the morning.

He was holding a small envelope which he gave to me, "I'm sorry. But it was urgent." Then, he pretty much disappeared.

I opened it cautiously, frowning when a silver ring and a note fell into the palm of my hand. The scrawl wasn't neat at all, in fact it was difficult to read.

_Rose Hathaway,_

_Guardian Woodstock contacted me a few weeks ago about your bond with a Moroi, relating to me a story that was very similar to my own. You're shadow-kissed, like I am. I had my Moroi counterpart infuse this with Spirit to help keep away the effects of the darkness and the ghosts. It isn't a permanent solution, but hopefully your Moroi can find a way to do it herself later on. If not, when you feel the effects beginning to wear off, Jessica can contact me again._

_Regards_

_Johnathan Hartlet_

**A/N: Meh awful. I think I must have lost interest in this fanfiction, which is a shame because I love Eddie...anyway, the guy who wrote the letter is made up from my imagination, just in case anyone's confused. It's not the same person from the actual series as Jess didn't meet them in Russia.**

**Please review!**

**Chocorose x**


	28. UPDATE

**So…surprise! This is a blanket A/N for all of my work on here. Depending on where you are reading this, you may be wondering why I haven't updated in such a long time and...well, I don't have a reason that I can give you that would satisfy your curiosity.**

**Actually, that's not entirely true. As some of you may know I have started writing on Wattpad. I have found the experience to be a lot more enjoyable than writing on here. The people who write as guests on my work have often been lovely, but, they also often have not been. Now, it wasn't something I noticed myself feeling down about or anything like that, but I did notice that it gave me a slight…aversion to the site. I feel like the nature of anonymous reviewers is something I as a writer on this site need to address.**

**Firstly, if you want to criticise a person's work, at least have the decency to not do it anonymously. It is disgusting. To directly insult an author or their writing without giving them a way by which to contact you just shows you to be exceptionally childish and ignorant. I hate the ability to write reviews as guests on here because it leaves such an easy way for people to write abuse.**

**Secondly, there is a large difference between constructive criticism and just plain rudeness. Simply typing in a review, with a large string of profanities, insults or anything of the sort is not helpful to anyone. I know my writing is not perfect, I know that it is not to everyone's taste, but just throwing insults my way does not help me improve as a writer. It is also particularly ridiculous to post several reviews under different, made up, names which are clearly by the same person. It's laughable that someone would consider that to be a valuable way to spend their time.**

**I would also like to address comments on my older works. I have received several comments since my slight…abandonment of this site on writing which I posted and created when I was very young. I know now, that it is not the best of my ability. To comment on such old work, with such hefty criticism without attempting to read any of the writers new work, to see if there has been an improvement is again, very insulting to a writer.**

**Because of this, I have decided I will be moderating anonymous reviews. I didn't want to, but I refuse to deal with the childishness and ignorance that I have seen on writing which has been personal to me and in many ways document what I have been through as a person. If you don't see a largely abusive, anonymous review that you have written appear on my work, you know why.**

**And finally, a massive thank you to anyone who's stuck with me. I have had some of the most lovely comments on here, some wonderful pieces of encouragement and have been given so much advice on how to improve. I cannot thank anyone who has ever helped me on here enough. I truly appreciate you. This may seem like a massive moan at my readers and I know that is unfair, but I really felt the need to explain why I simply stopped posting. I couldn't do it anymore with the way that anonymous reviews were going. There is so much in the 'real' world that is more important to me, and I refuse to let people on here, who are choosing to remain so **_**completely **_**anonymous make me feel like shit about myself.**

**Now, to those of you who are reading my current stories (Teacher's Pet and Shooting Through the Looking Glass). I will be posting. It has been such a long time since I have even looked at my work on here that it will be a slow process. I am currently re-reading Teacher's Pet, Assassinating in Blood and Shooting Through the Looking Glass in order to work out where my train of thought was for any of them. There will be updates on both of my ongoing works by September 2014. I am so sorry for the wait, really I am. But I can't force myself to write, and I won't force myself to write. **

**Thank you for reading!**

**Chocorose x**


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